Bene merenti
by Chaed
Summary: During the Mansion Incident Wesker is murdered by his own creation, the Tyrant. The mysterious virus saves him, but can he cope with the effects? Chapter 13: In the end Wesker succeeds and contrary to Jill's beliefs, he gets away with everything.
1. Chapter I

**Bene Merenti**

_By_: Chaed

_Rating_: T

_Summary_: During the Mansion Incident Wesker is murdered by his own creation, the Tyrant. The mysterious virus saves him, but can he cope with the effects?

_Disclaimer_: Ain't mine, will never be. But you can't stop a girl from dreaming, right?

_**A/N**_**: Bene Merenti is Latin and means 'success to those who deserve it'. This story can be read as stand alone, however, if you want some additional info on Wesker's virus you may also want to read Ab Initio.**

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Chapter I

Albert Wesker was watching the security monitors in front of him, wondering for the umpteenth time why things had developed so terribly wrong. Perhaps wrong was the false adjective. Not corresponding to his plans was more appropriate.

His plans had been reason to change every few minutes, ever since the helicopter had landed. From the point that Brad had left, the wild chase through the forest, his team's slow understanding of what was going on.

When they had reached the Mansion out of breath - but very much alive - Wesker's thoughts had solely focused on Vickers' cowardly disappearance. Back then there seemed to be no chance of escaping the horrors of the virus anymore, no helicopter that could bear him into safety once his work here was done.

His worries had ceased with time and he was finding new alternatives. Wesker had needed a break, a short pause to gather his thoughts and decide on the further course of action. Now, safely situated within one of the Spencer Mansion's surveillance rooms Wesker could watch as STARS fought their way through what must seem to them like hell.

He had Chris Redfield on one of the monitors moving through the upper floors of the Mansion, currently investigating a deserted hallway. He had been seperated from the main team during their flight from the MA-39s, which had torn Joseph Frost to pieces, before scaring Vickers into absconding from the unknown enemy.

Wesker had thought about possible escaped beasts before they had descended into the woods, but he had hoped them to be one or two, not an entire pack. It had left Alpha team with an easy decision, and considering the location of the derelict that had been Bravo's helicopter, provided Wesker with the opportunity to lure STARS into the Mansion without arousing any suspision.

He had later told Jill and Barry that he had seen the building during their flight and both had immediately believed him. They hadn't flown over the Mansion at all, but both had been too shocked by Joseph's and Chris' loss.

Wesker hadn't arrived at the surveillance room in time to learn of Redfield's escape, or how he had entered Umbrella's secret hideout, but he guessed it had been the same way the MA-39s had gotten out. He'd caught sight of Chris the moment he had entered and turned on the monitors, a little surprised to see him unscathed and apparently free of infection.

Wesker smirked. But of course, that's why he had brought them here. They were the best, had grown to be the best under his own tutelage and were now facing their final exam to see who was better. They, or Wesker's other occupation he used to work on when not with STARS.

It proved to be more interesting than he had at first anticipated. Jill and Barry had split up by now, probably searching for Wesker. After they had left into the dining room to investigate the sudden shot that had been heard he had grasped the chance and made way for the labs.

They had probably encountered one of the virus carriers. At least, neither of them showed anymore mercy when the infected crossed their path. Wesker was still undecided to whom the shot had belonged to, but it was not important.

In the hallway at the other side of the dining room was the corpse of Kenneth Sullivan, one of the members of Bravo team. Though Wesker hadn't seen Barry's and Jill's advancement, he was positive that they had found their former colleague. Speaking of whom, Sullivan had been recently resurrected by the virus and was now aimlessly wandering the corridor.

To Wesker's relief there had been no further mutations to the T-virus, and the carriers behaved just like the ones at the Training Facility. They were slow, with no impressing brain functions. They were easy to avoid and not worthy wasting bullets on them.

The members of Alpha team were slowly realizing this too. In the beginning they had emptied clips into the undead, but soon found out that a headshot was the most effective way to dispose of them, if circumventing was no option. They were also running out of ammo slowly, which might be an explanation.

He leant back in the chair, brushing through his hair and allowed himself a moment of repose.

The way down to the surveillance room, which was located just before the laboratories in the basement had been easier than his worst fears had forecast. It could have been worse, a hundred times.

Despite the rotting bodies of scientists that were dragging themselves along the lower levels he had ran into few threats, considering the research that had been done here. In total he had to eliminate two MA-39s and seven human carriers. His ammo stand was notably better than that of the other survivors and he hadn't been forced to use any of the BOW rounds yet.

The Hunters were still firmly enclosed in their cages and Wesker had checked the electronic mechanisms, at ease to see that they were fully functional. None of the employees had gotten the stupid idea of venturing close to the creatures during the initial infection apparently.

The Chimeras, the Spencer Mansion's pride, were another story altogether, but thanks to Wesker it had a happy end too. Three specimen had escaped their enclosures. They were causing havoc one level below him. He had electronically locked the door that led to the lab the others were held in – to make sure none got far should more escape – and eyed the screens that showed the other three constantly, waiting for them to proceed into rooms he could trap them in. It was only a matter of time.

Given the circumstances, all might turn out to be well in the end.

Patience was a virtue he possessed, after all.

He had tried to guess Alpha team's survival rate, or better said the time that remained until their deaths. Even if they managed to overcome the terrors of the Mansion – which Wesker hoped they would – he had much more in store for them than just 'zombies'. He would lure them down into the labs, even if it meant going out himself and doing it personally (sooner or later he would have to leave the security room anyway in order to collect the samples).

None of them would be suspicious about his absence. He would tell them that a mysterious sound had caught his attention while waiting in the main hall and that he had gotten lost in the maze of rooms and corridors during his search. When he had found his way back, they had been gone.

It might sound a little unworthy of 'the Captain' who is always so calm and collected and sees through the thickest mist, but facing the undead is not on everyone's day-to-day routine. They didn't need to know that Wesker was one of those few, to whom it applied. He would let them think that he was just as shocked about the discoveries as them and wanted to bring Umbrella down – which to some extent was even true.

Though Umbrella's fall was not the main reason for his actions, it inevitably accompanied them. The Training Facility he had had to dispose of, as much as for Marcus' sudden resurrection aswell as for some of the pesky STARS who had managed to infiltrate the building. Umbrella had proved to be incapable of containing the danger. They had lost two teams on just the train and it had been too risky to wait for anymore troops.

The Spencer Mansion, even though on another scale was more or less the same. Experiments had gotten out of the labs – out into the forest – and he couldn't let them reach Raccoon City. That would be a catastrophe too big to contain from the public. Not only would it mean the end to Umbrella, but to all other companies which had similar work going on, and to one of which Wesker would switch over after this mission.

Meanwhile, Jill Valentine, brave Jill had triggered one of the mansion's various traps. Wesker leant closer to the screen, but the image was too fuzzy to recognize her expression. The roof was descending, caused by the retrival of a shotgun in the previous room and the female STARS member was caught with no possible escape. Both doors had locked automatically.

Wesker was a little disappointed by her early fail. He would have wanted Jill to survive longer, go out in a blaze against one of the more dangerous creatures. But the swift falling of the roof predicted otherwise. There was no way out of there, not even if Jill screamed her lungs out.

For a moment he contemplated whether he should watch her die, but before he could decide the door toward the outer hallway was kicked open and Jill was pulled out by a knight in shining armor.

Barry.

Behind them the roof crushed the empty air that should have been Jill and Wesker wondered whether it was time to unleash the more serious dangers upon them. He wouldn't want his STARS to perish because of some silly mechanism they accidently triggered. They had been brought here to prove their skills in fighting after all.

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First chapter to a story that will reveal one of the biggest mysteries around the RE universe: Wesker's survival in the mansion. Stay tuned for more chapters! 

**If you want additional info on Wesker's virus you can also read my other story Ab Initio, which kinda is a prequel to this one, detailing the events during RE0 and Wesker's aquiring of the mysterious virus.**


	2. Chapter II

Chapter II

He was still unsure about the vial Birkin had given him. Currently it was still safely stored within one of his pockets along with the mysterious letter that had come with it.

During the briefing with STARS, their last preparations and the tensed flight in the helicopter he had been more or less silent - with the exeption of the briefing - and had tried finding answers to the many questions that were occupying his mind, yet he had failed.

Later, when they had found Bravo team's helicopter there hadn't been anymore time to devote his attention to the matter.

Neither when they had reached the Mansion. He had to descend to the lower levels of the building, evade the infected and the occasional MA-39s. He had to worry about how many of the other experiments had managed to free themselves, and how he could lure Jill and Barry – whom he had thought to be the only survivers at that time – down into the labs to test their skills against the Hunters and Chimeras. And of course the Tyrant.

But now, as he watched Alpha team's every move over the security cameras installed in the majority of rooms of the Mansion, Wesker had time to ponder over Birkin's 'present' again. He had briefly contemplated calling Birkin, getting Birkin here, but both possibilities were too dangerous, too risky. Umbrella could overhear his call, and he didn't know how far the infection had spread in the woods. The Mansion was pretty secluded and he couldn't really have Birkin flown in via helicopter. For one because STARS would notice and secondly because an additional helicopter was one of the few things Wesker hadn't thought of bringing with him.

He told himself that he would in no way use whatever the substance was. Birkin could have spoken the truth, but in their line of business that was a rare thing to happen. There was still the question - among many others - why Birkin had given it to _him_, and not kept it for himself if it was so effective as he claimed. Was there more than only this phial?

All in all, there were too many negative aspects overtopping the positive ones.

It was a risk too high to take.

Yet Wesker was also reluctant to simply throw the vial away. The only explanation he could satisfy himself with was that he would personally research the substance once he was out of here. The company he was in negotiations with wouldn't mind an additional sample either, if it didn't turn out to be Birkin's promise. And if it did though… well, a man could never have enough backup. Wesker smirked.

-before a frown replaced it. There was a sudden movement on the screens that caught his attention. Chris Redfield just exited one of the rooms where no camera was installed. It was only some old hallway that led to a broom closet and some storage room on the roof nobody ever used. Umbrella hadn't deemed it necessary to supervise that, apparently.

However, Chris Redfield wasn't what caught his attention.

It was rather Chris Redfield's company that made him hold his breath.

On his shoulder was slumped a man that wore a vest with the STARS insigna on it and quickly Wesker recognized him as Richard Aiken, Bravo team's radio operator. By the looks of it he was unconscious and probably wounded – most likely infected. No wonder they hadn't managed to contact the other team. All members not already dead seemed to have found their way into either the Spencer Mansion or the nearby located Training Facility. Apart from the fact that they probably had their hands full with trying to survive, Umbrella used a special signal to interfere with the radiowaves to assure the that the rest of the world would remain unknowing about their activities. For those who were unaware of this little tweak it might just seem like a normal technical problem.

That aside, Richard Aiken wasn't what startled Wesker either.

It was the other person accompanying Redfield.

Rebecca Chambers.

He hit some controls, using the poor zooming the camera offered. It was her, no doubt. She didn't seem infected either, when actually, she should be no more than a pile of dust by now.

Rebecca Chambers had been seperated from Bravo team earlier and he had found her lurking through the Training Facility with another man. The man, whoever he had been, was not present anymore so Wesker presumed he was dead.

Chambers however was very much alive and suddenly posed a threat he wouldn't have believed the rookie ever to do. She had somehow survived the T-virus. She had somehow survived the Training Facility's self destruct system.

Had Birkin activated it in the end?

He had been very reluctant to do so in the beginning, but Wesker had thought he had managed to convince the scientist that the danger was uncontrollable and a complete destruction the only possible solution to contain the infection.

The thought suddenly occured to Wesker that if Chambers had survived... had Dr. Marcus? The man had been mysteriously resurrected – another unsanswered topic – and told Birkin and Wesker that he had been responsible for the leaks in both the Arklay and Training Facility aswell as the Ecliptic Express, one of Umbrella's trains which was used to transport personnel between the labs and hadn't been warned in time.

However Marcus was currently the lesser worry to Wesker. Chambers, even though she was less dangerous than the doctor in many ways, could embody the end to his plans right now. He didn't know whether she had overheard anything about his connection to Umbrella, but that was another risk he couldn't allow himself to take.

If STARS came to know about Wesker's true identity he would have to liquidate them. And that, in turn, meant no combat data, if he didn't intend on fighting the BOWs himself. Which, honestly, wasn't on his schedule for the day.

Wesker pushed back the chair he was sitting on and stood up. He located Jill and Barry, both in different locations within the mansion, both still unsuspecting about what was going to happen. Both a safe distance away from the truth. That must remain that way.

Redfield and Chambers with Richard Aiken in tow were moving toward the small medical room located on the 1st floor, near the dining room. Wesker checked his weapon, made sure it was fully loaded and left the surveillance room.

He would have to backtrack all the way from the labs to the Mansion, but there was nothing to fear. The Hunters were contained within their cages and the three Chimaras which had gotten out were locked one level deeper. If he encountered any human carriers he would dispose of them quickly, or avoid them if he could.

Wesker reached the elevator that would bring him up to the surface in a matter of minutes, walking past Dr. Donalds, who was very occupied with staring at the wall and far too slow to turn around in time and take a bite out of Wesker. He had never openly admitted it, but Donalds had been one very annoying assistant and he had to confess that the doctor's fate served him just right. He had always been rather brainless and now he was finally given the chance to really play the part.

The rest of the way towards the Mansion was free of infection and Wesker entered the old building through one of the doors leading into the courtyard, near the room where Jill had barely escaped her death earlier.

From what he had seen on the monitors, the way to the medical room should be fairly empty of _zombies_. He wasn't very fond of the word, but remaining all scientific about it if he encountered any of the STARS wasn't advisable either.

Because, let's face it, that's what they saw. Zombies, not a breakthrough in molecular biology and virology. Wesker didn't blame them. It was better that way.

He made for the Main Hall, the way leading through one long corridor and a room with a statue located in it. It was the same route he had taken to get down to the labs the first time. With the only difference that he windows in the corridor were now broken and there were blood stains on the floor. Most likely 'zombie' blood... or 'zombie dog' blood.

There was nothing left he could waste his bullets on however and Wesker turned the knob of the last door decidedly, a visible frown suddenly taking hold of his features as he stepped into the Main Hall and froze.

"Barry."

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**Ta-da! What do you think of the chapter? Let me know, I'd love to hear your opinion!**


	3. Chapter III

**Thanks a bunch to LinaRohn and wulfgarfang for their wonderful feedback. Guys, you're the best!  
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Chapter III

"Barry."

The person he had least expected of all, now stood before him, looking as surprised as Wesker felt. When he had checked the screens before leaving the control room, Barry had been busy on the upper floors of the mansion. Apparently, he had quickly backtracked towards the Main Hall for whatever obscure reason. Perhaps he was supposed to meet up with Jill… hopefully not. If that was to happen Wesker couldn't easily walk away again, that would fuel their suspiscions even more. He couldn't turn around now either and pretend not to have seen Barry.

It was time to take up his responsibilities as STARS commander again.

"Captain Wesker!" Barry eventually said, striding over to him hastily. "Where have you been? When Jill and I returned you were gone and we couldn't find you anymore."

Of course they hadn't. He had been in the Labs after all, it was highly unlikely that they found their way down there themselves. However, Barry expected an answer and he had just the right one prepared. The one that the police officer infront of him would certainly buy.

"I thought I heard a movement," Wesker lied confidently, not giving Barry the chance to start speculating. "I went to investigate, in hopes that it was Chris or someone from Bravo Team."

Barry looked up hopefully. Wesker was about to shatter said hopes.

"However, I wasn't able to find anybody. On the way back I encountered… difficulties."

Barry nodded, knowing exactly what he was talking about; or at least, believing so.

"Jill and I met one of those… things too. When we came back and found you gone we split up to search for you. This place if full of those freaks."

"I know," Wesker assured.

Barry was silent for a moment. Then he spoke again, "I have reason to believe Umbrella has something to do with it."

"Umbrella?" Wesker echoed, trying to sound surprised, even though he was more than annoyed at Barry's assumptions. "The pharmaceutical company?"

"Yeah. That one. Their logo is all over the place, and I found some documents adressed to, or written by them too."

Wesker wished he knew what exactly Barry had found, but it couldn't be anything of importance and it certainly hadn't mentioned him. Barry wasn't a good enough actor to keep that from him, if he had found any clues.

"You said you were with Jill. Where is she?" Wesker asked, changing the topic. Barry didn't seem to notice.

"She suggested we cover more ground by going solo, and even though I didn't like the idea she was right. She was supposed to be here ten minutes ago, but she hasn't shown up yet. I hope none of them have gotten to her."

They hadn't yet. Jill seemed to have been in a pretty good shape the last time he looked, but he kept on pretending to be clueless.

"On my way back I accidently stumbled into the courtyard. I saw footprints in the earth leading down a path. They looked like prints of combat boots. It could have been Jill, or perhaps some other STARS member." He hadn't actually, and he didn't think anybody had made it to the Residence, to which the way led, but if Barry took the bait Wesker might be able to lure him away from Chambers and Chris. Or find some other use for him. For now, he needed to get rid of him though.

"We found the body of Kenneth," the burly man said.

"There might still be survivors." Wesker argued, "I suggest you go to investigate where I told you to and I will cover the last parts of this mansion. If Jill is still here I will find her and we will come after you. If you find her first, wait for me there."

He paused a little, letting Barry think he was about to decide on their next actions, when in fact he knew exactly what he wanted to happen.

"If what you said about Umbrella is true, we need evidence. Nobody will believe us otherwise."

Barry nodded. Wesker once more was reminded of his team's loyality. How easy it was to lie to them, how easy they bought everything he said. Their trust was immense.

"Go now," Wesker ordered, pointing to the door, "The more time we waste, the slimmer the chance gets for us to survive."

The senior STARS member did as he was instructed and the next moment Wesker was alone in the hall again, letting out a heavy sigh. He was relieved that Barry hadn't asked any questions and hadn't picked holes in his captain's arguments.

Tactically, the orders he had just given were plain stupid. In such a situation it was best to stay together. They were facing unknown enemies – theoretically – and going off alone could get them killed very easily. Wesker for once cherished the fact that he was working – _had_ worked, he reminded himself – for Umbrella. It gave him an incredible advantage. He didn't want to think what would have happened if he had stumbled into the Mansion as clueless as the rest of STARS. Unprepared. Scared. Weak.

He banished the fantasy from his mind. The Chambers girl must be taken care of now. Whether she knew something or not, she was a possible danger and best eliminated before anything that should remain secret got out. Wesker played with the thought of putting her through the test too, but only when he had assured himself that she was still as unsuspecting as the others. Yes, perhaps that would be more productive than simply killing her. Not to mention that she was probably still with Chris Redfield, not really giving Wesker the chance to get rid of her. He doubted they would part again.

Wesker opened the door towards the dining room, quickly crossing over to the other side. He made his way towards the medical room, taking notice of the corpses along the way. All had been downed with headshots.

_Good aiming, Redfield._

Chris was a marksman being equaled only by few others - Wesker included of course - and it showed. No carrier was alive anymore, making the way easy and sparing Wesker of wasting precious bullets. He wondered if Chris had anymore ammo after this impressive – yet extravagant stunt.

When he reached the medical room he prepared himself to act surprised, keeping his Handgun in position nonetheless. Chris and Rebecca didn't need to know that he was strolling through the grounds avoiding the heavier infected areas on purpose.

He turned the knob to open the door, half expecting Chris to swirl around and tell him to freeze, weapon pointed at his head and little Chambers gasping in panic.

Beside the unmoving corpse of Richard Aiken, the room was empty though.

Wesker froze. Where were the others? He strode over towards the dead Bravo Team member, wondering how long he would remain that way.

That was when Wesker noticed the wound on Richard's arm. Something had taken a healthy bite out of his biceps. The missing chunk of flesh however was too big to have been caused by any of the human carriers. All other creatures were safely contained within the lab too.

Wesker frowned. Had any of the three Chimeras found their way out of the lab? Unlikely. They weren't intelligent enough to operate the elevator, which, apart from a set of emergency stairs was the only possibility to get to the surface. And Chimeras didn't attack this way.

They would maim the entire body, sear and rip until the victim was no more than a grotesque heap of flesh and bones. Richard Aiken was unscathed despite the bite on his arm. Wesker moved closer, keeping his Beretta at the ready should the T-virus choose this moment to resurrect its host.

Apart from the normal teeth marks – which were far too large for a human denture - there were four deeper punctures, two belonging to the upper and lower jaw respectively. The skin around the wound had taken on a sickly purple color indicating a possible poison apart from the T-virus.

If Wesker wasn't mistaken, Richard Aiken had been killed by a snake.

A giant snake, he added silently, scrutinizing the corpse. As far as he was informed no snakes or snake-like animals were tested on in the Arklay Labs. Reptiles and amphibians - apart from the Hunter Series, which initally had evolved from frogs - were desired test subjects at the arctic and european facilities. Raccoon rather specialized in Birkin's G-virus and perfection of the Tyrant Series.

Then it deemed on him, that the snake which had bitten Richard didn't necessarily have to be an approved experiment by Umbrella. The Spencer Mansion was old, and god alone knew what wild animals it accommodated. Nobody could tell just what mutations the virus produced in all the different species starting from a normal fly to a snake like this. It could cause rapid growth, certainly aggressive behaviour and dozens of other attributes that made Wesker shudder.

He stepped back from Richard, having seen enough. There was no reason to dwell here any longer. The situation had just gotten a tad bit more complicated and he wanted to stop it from getting even worse.

It was time to locate Chris and Rebecca, to find out how much they knew and take appropriate meassures.

Wesker wanted to get the job done.

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**I hope you liked this chapter. Still no deceiving Barry, though. Wesker apparently thinks Rebecca is a greater danger than Barry a good help. His opinion might want to change over the course of the story.**

**And still no decision about the substance Birkin has given him...well, you know me. I like to keep you here until the end. :D**

**Keep on reading and reviewing! I'm handing out cookies to everyone who reviews this one!**

**Note: The next update might come a little later; UC is released on Friday all across Europe and I'm one of those freaks who won't stop playing until she's found out every dirty secret, hehe.**


	4. Chapter IV

Chapter IV

He didn't know where Chris Redfield was, even though he'd heard some suspicious shots from the second floor. By the time he had backtracked their origins though, all that Wesker had found was a dead – now permantently – Umbrella employee.

As always it had been disposed of by a headshot, but Wesker couldn't tell whether the shooter had been Chris, Jill or Rebecca. Since Barry should be on his way towards the Residence, Wesker excluded him from the list of suspects. The chance that Chambers had mastered the skill of headshots in such a short time was doubtful too.

Which left Chris and Jill. Of course Barry believed that Jill was somewhere outside between Mansion and Residence, but he had made that up as much as he had pretended to be clueless about what was going on. Jill could still be anywhere within the mansion, healthy and alive or dead if she had triggered another of Spencer's deranged traps and found her timely end.

After wandering the corridors for a good ten minutes, Wesker decided that his search would prove fruitless if not for a good portion of luck. Chris and Rebecca could be anywhere by now and he couldn't guess their location through the thick old walls. Should they encounter trouble – which there was definitely enough of - he probably wouldn't be able to make out their position.

Going back to the labs was a waste of time too, not to mention a high risk. The first time he had taken that route, Wesker had known exactly where his team had been and what they had been up to; now though, the remaining STARS members were scattered across the mansion like ants and the chance that they caught him slipping away into the hidden passage leading to the labs was high. Higher than zero and that was more than Wesker could afford.

If he didn't keep to the rules strictly, his entire planning was for nothing. Alpha team under no circumstances was allowed to know anything of this test. If Miss Chambers held any knowledge that she better not, she would be eliminated in time. He was lucky that she was with Redfield. Wesker doubted that he would believe Chambers accusing him as traitor right away.

Chris hadn't been present when Wesker had disappeared the first time, and he hadn't seemed to have met up with any other member of Alpha team to come to know of the incident. Chris was one of the most loyal men to him and wouldn't take a rookie's word – who was on her first mission at that – for granted.

He had enough experience and training to be able to tell that Rebecca tried to somehow proccess the horrible events that had occurred, from the monsters forsaking their horror movies for the real world up to all her teammates dying around her. The girl was traumatized for sure, making up nonsense to justify her actions or whatnot.

Wesker was no psychatrist. Neither was Chris Redfield. But Wesker would be disappointed of him if he didn't come to the same conclusions.

Pushing the matter aside from the list of top priorities, he once more remembered about Barry. Barry was probably waiting in the Residence for him – taking that he made it till there – and Wesker didn't want to leave him wait.

He needed to go there anyway to retrieve samples of Neptune and Plant 42, and if Barry proved to be of no further use, he would face his final exam and see if he was worthy of the respect Wesker had accredited him with all those years.

He started to backtrack towards the Main Hall so he could take the way towards the Residence from there. Barry had probably already eliminated whatever dangers there had been, but Wesker kept his guard up nonetheless.

When he reached the Main Hall, hand already on the knob to open the door to it he heard a mysterious shambling. Wesker hesitated, listening. Perhaps it was only an illusion? Perhaps the Mansion was getting to him more than he let on-

-there it was again; closer.

He wondered what could make this sound. Umbrella's creatures were as silent as the night before launching an attack. Possibly one of the human carriers or a MA-39 which had caught itself in some object and was dragging it behind? Perhaps one of the dogs had been restricted with a chain before infection and was still attached to it.

Wesker took a deep breath. He put the Beretta in position and slowly turned the knob. Nothing jumped out at him. There was no infected waiting for him.

The sound echoed in the great hall again; louder.

Wesker couldn't discern where it came from. The sound reverberated from the walls. It seemed as if it came from all directions at once.

There was a moan. A long, agonized moan. Wesker's pistol shot into the direction it had come from. From under the big staircase, where another path led down into a yet unfinished part of the mansion. Until now it had just been a great cave; Umbrella hadn't had the chance to complete the constructions yet.

Carefully he approached the sound's origin. He was a little startled that he was startled at all. Whatever had made the sound shouldn't be here. He hadn't seen anything on the security cameras earlier and they were located in nearly every room of the Mansion.

Another creature that had mutated due to the effects of the viral spill? Wesker remembered the bite on Richard Aiken's arm, deciding that he did not want to end up like that.

Another moan.

Wesker's heart leaped a beat. Why was it so unnerving? He rounded the corner, already seeing the familiar bars that prohibited further passage. They had been installed to assure no employee ventured down there and got lost, or injured.

When Wesker had a clear view of the stone steps leading down he realized there was nothing to fear. Mostly because, there was nothing _there_ to be scared of. The hallway was empty.

He was about to turn around and search for Barry when suddenly the clattering sound echoed louder than ever before. And for the first time Wesker could assign the noise to a specific object.

It was the rattling of chains.

Closely followed by another moan that let his hair stand on edge.

This time the owner of the eerie sounds introduced itself.

Or rather herself.

From that moment on Wesker knew why his gut had felt that way and why he had been so unnerved. He knew it because it was the same way he had felt the first time he had seen her. When he had looked into her haunted eyes and when Birkin had squeezed his shoulder. When they had started to observe her, to inject her, to experiment on her. When they had watched her suffer telling themselves that it was the only way.

Wesker turned on his heels and strode to the door. He was thankful that there were bars between him and her and wondered whether she remembered just who he was.

What he did to her.

How he had learned to enjoy it.

Wesker was determined to reach the Residence as fast as possible. There had once more been a change of plans. He wasn't certain of how it would affect his mission yet, or the STARS, but he was very sure of one thing:

To get as much distance between him and what once had been a little girl named Lisa Trevor.

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**The wonderful Lisa Trevor makes her debut. Her presence startles Wesker and that's a good thing, because the guy at least needs to be afraid of _something_. I know I'm not following the exact storyline here, because I think in Wesker's report he mentions that he and Birkin disposed of her earlier, but this brings a new twist to the story.**

**Also, I'm done with UC and I'm just none the wiser. To my disappointment Capcom still wraps the whole Birkin-Wesker-virus scenario into mystery... oh well. That's why this story is here anyway. **

**Keep on reading and reviewing!**


	5. Chapter V

Chapter V

The brief encounter with Lisa Trevor had left Wesker more vulnerable than he would have liked to admit. Of course he recovered, but in the moments it took him to do so, he had been weak.

And he knew that he couldn't do anything about it.

Lisa Trevor – 'the woman' as they had come to call her – had always been a subject they didn't talk about. Nobody liked to be reminiscent of the research that had formed the basis to modern science as Umbrella saw it. She might only have been a test subject among many, with the distinct difference that she had been the first. An innocent girl, who paid for her father's insanity. Wesker wasn't one of those scientists who built up an emotional bond with their 'patients' so to say. He knew quite a lot of researchers who were handicapped by this feature. The majority of them, if not all, had failed in the end. Both in their research aswell as in keeping up a stable mental level.

He liked to keep his distance to the specimen, his privacy. When hígher ups at Umbrella ahd decided for the Trevor family to be used as test subjects nobody had objected. Everyone knew that sooner or later this step had to be taken and nobody was going to say no when the opportunity presented itself.

They had all thought – some even prayed - that Lisa would die quickly. Few had anticipated that a child was going to survive the virus' effects. Yet the Trevor girl had been the only survivor of her family, had outlived them all, constantly pleading, calling for her mother as the virus manifested within her.

She had grown into a monster, ripping off faces of women she saw, in her delirium thinking they were her mother. For a time Lisa had brought results – exeptional ones at that – and Umbrella was pleased to invest more money into her.

Wesker and Birkin had been the lead researchers at that time. Day and night, night and day they would work, pushing the results a little farther. Until Birkin had managed to extract and synthesize the substance from Lisa's blood that had henceforth been known as the G-virus.

Exhilerated about their breakthrough both Birkin and Wesker kept on working with the new virus, almost forgetting Lisa in their euphoria. They had later learned that Umbrella had disposed of the girl; she had outlived her porpuses, was a millstone around the neck. Over time they had accepted Lisa to be just a test subject, no more a little girl, or a human being at all.

Neither of the two had occupied themselves more with the problem, sure that Umbrella had made its job thoroughly. At that time neither of the two had known just how sloppy the company actually was.

Now Wesker wondered what they had done with Lisa all the years. He didn't particularly want to imagine it in detail. The Trevor girl now posed an additional danger.

He couldn't know whether the viruses in her had mutated even more during the years, but already back then she had been very resistant to injury and more or less oblivious to pain. Wesker doubted that normal ammunition had any effect on her and probably not even the BOW bullets were going to impress her much.

He had to avoid contact with her at all costs. As long as she was trapped in the catacombs under the mansion Wesker had nothing to fear. He just wouldn't go there.

Concentrating on the task at hand again Wesker retraced Barry's steps towards the Residence. He could identify footprints in the muddy earth and there were some brains splattered across the ground indicating that the Alpha member's heavy colt had done its job.

He jogged along the path until the big Residence towered infront of him. It was here that Umbrella conducted some of their experiments that required special 'environments'. Due to the humidity it was a perfect place for plants to grow and Umbrella had invested into an Aqua Ring to be constructed on the lower floors. The actual labs could only be accessed through a hidden stairway leading down or through another secured entrance from the main labs, so Wesker didn't worry about Barry causing any trouble.

However, he did wonder what he was going to tell the man once he found him. Perhaps even Jill, if they had encountered each other. What was he going to tell both of them? To be so kind as to follow him down into a secret lab he just happened to come across and endulge in hopeless fights against bio organic weapons while Wesker filmed their dispute to deliver to posterity?

Somehow he doubted they'd agree to that.

Wesker reached the Residence and opened the door, Beretta at the ready. The hall was empty. He wouldn't have minded it to be empty of infected, but where was Barry?! He wasn't here to play the babysitter!

"Barry?" he called out, ignoring the part of his mind that told him how unprofessional he acted. Yes, so he was giving his position away, but in this case there was nothing that could happen. If there indeed were carriers lurking around the Residence they were not in this hallway, and they weren't intelligent enough to open doors. The worst thing that could happen was somebody else from STARS hearing him and Wesker didn't mind that at the moment.

The thought suddenly occurred to him that 'Barry' had been the last word he'd said in quite a while. Wesker wasn't the type of person to speak loudly to himself, but he didn't want to die with his last words refering to the Alpha team member. Not that he was going to die, but… he shook his head, clearing it of all this nonsense.

The only answer he received was silence, so he decided that while he waited for Barry to show up he could just aswell retreive the samples and be done with this part of the grounds.

He walked on, just about to round the corner that would lead him to Room 002, when he stopped. Two crates had been stocked against the wall, while the rest of the hallway was empty – quite literally. Where the wooden floor should have been there was an enormous hole instead, taking up the entire ground. There was no way to get to the other side, if not for climbing over the crates and Wesker didn't know if the part floor they were standing on could support any additional weight before collapsing.

He was tempted to lean forward and see if he could detect what had caused the chasm, but quickly decided against it. This hadn't been caused by humans, which left only another option and that included BOWs or accidently infected animals. Since Wesker was quite fond of his head he decided that curiosity had to draw the shorter one this time and needed to be put aside.

Perhaps he'd send Barry first. Once he found him that was.

Wesker turned around again, walking up to a set of double doors that was located at the end of the first corridor. The room behind was a dead end, but Barry must be somewhere, mustn't he? Though the walls weren't as thick as the Mansion's, the old man probably just hadn't heard him. Hadn't heard the wood crack under Wesker's boots nor his call?

He speculated too much.

Which turned out to be true. Upon opening the doors he found Barry standing at a table, apparently reading something. Whatever it was it seemed to have caught his full attention because he turned around off guard, fumbling for his weapon as he did so.

"Captain," he stated, relieved. "I didn't hear you."

Wesker was about to let off some sly remark about how important constant vigilance was and that Barry's behaviour had been quite unfitting for a STARS member, but he stopped himself.

"Are you alone?"

"Yeah. Jill didn't come this way. In fact I wasn't able to make out any footprints you mentioned."

"They might have belonged to one of them then perhaps," Wesker defended himself. 'They' refered to the virus carriers of course and even Barry seemed to get the hang of it.

Wesker pointed towards the notebook in the other man's hands, "What is this?"

Barry held it up, proud for some reason and handed it to the Captain, "Found this lying here. It's a journal of some sorts. I found out they conducted experiments here, but technical jargon was beyond me. It's definitely a piece of evidence Umbrella won't be able to deny, that's for sure. Their logo is printed all across it."

Wesker pretended to take an interested look at the paper in his hands, however after discerning that Barry's discovery was no more than a journal of one of the employees who'd jotted down some notes on Plant 42, he stopped browsing. Barry had done his homework.

Slowly, he was finding out too much for Wesker's liking though.

"Have you seen the hole; in the hallway?" he asked, tucking away the report.

Barry nodded, "Yeah, whatever did that, it sure is huge."

"Have you been to the other side yet?"

He shook his head, "No."

Wesker nodded, thinking. "We need to investigate that area too. If what you say about Umbrella is true we need to get our hands on some solid evidence. A single journal won't be the company's fall." If he was lucky, whatever lurked in that hole would take a bite out of Barry, or end his life otherwise…

Barry took up his colt, ready to leave, but suddenly hesitated, "What about Jill? Hasn't she been in the Mansion?"

"No." Wesker simply stated and turned, striding through the doors towards the hole. Barry was right behind him. Actually, Barry should be right in front of him, not the other way around.

"Have you checked all the rooms on this side yet?" he inquired.

"All, but one. Which is locked." Which wasn't of any importance to Wesker anyway, but it had felt appropriate to ask.

"Were the other rooms similar? Any hint on why that particular one is locked?"

"They looked like living quarters to me. I don't see why the one should be any different. Perhaps somebody locked himself in when those monsters started appearing."

Wesker smirked, but Barry couldn't see it. They were side effects, an accident, his work – not monsters.

"Climb over the crates to the other side," he instructed, suddenly annoyed by Barry's presence, "I'll make sure nothing suddenly jumps out of that hole."

Barry hesitated, but didn't refuse the command. Besides, what could he say anyway?

Wesker waited, full of anticipation that something would jump out at Barry and tear him to pieces, or pull him down into the abyss. Nothing did. Wesker had his Beretta pointed at the black chasm beneath them, awaiting to see death take Barry with it.

"I think it's safe," Barry said as he reached the other side. Not even the floor collapsed beneath him. Wesker was disappointed, "You can come on over, I'll keep you covered."

He sighed, but did as he was told. Nothing grabbed for Wesker's ankle either. About that, he was glad.

They glanced into the yet uninvestigated hallway and Wesker could hear a low humming. Like that of insects. He motioned for Barry to keep his guard up and they advanced. The humming turned out to belong to a beehive, located at the other end of the corridor.

"God, they're huge," Barry commented and Wesker had to agree. No doubt, they had been infected with the T-virus at some point. Their size had multiplied immensely, but he couldn't say anything about hightened agressivity yet. He didn't intend to test it out either.

"Don't step closer," he warned. Barry didn't. Instead he rattled at the knob of a door located beside him. Wesker frowned. Room 002, the one that lead to the underground Aqua Ring.

"We shouldn't go there; the bees might be there too," it was a lame excuse and it was too late anyway. Barry had opened the door to Room 002, pointing his weapon at the entrance. Wesker couldn't call it off now. They were 'searching for evidence' it would be foolish to turn around when he had ordered the investigation himself.

Barry stepped into the room, securing each corner and Wesker followed. Then he froze right away, because the bookcase that usually concealed the secret passageway to the undergrount plant was pushed aside, revealing the ladder to Wesker's initial location.

Barry seemed to be exited about their new discovery, "I think we got us some big evidence here."

Wesker couldn't let it happen. Barry knew too much, could screw his plans a thousand times over, had become more dangerous than rookie Chambers or the thing that had once been Lisa Trevor. He didn't see another way at that moment, all his preparations being threatened by a man who should have been claimed by death a long time ago.

Wesker raised the Beretta to Barry's head.

"Freeze."

* * *

**There you go. Finally we get to the part where Wesker reveals his true nature to the first STARS member. I was always wondering why he didn't kill him right away (despite his useful assistance in solving all the annoying puzzles, which I'v left out here). **

**Things go from bad to worse for Wesker. Stay tuned for the next chapter where it goes even wronger...**


	6. Chapter VI

Chapter VI

Some might say that he'd overreacted, that he'd finally lost his cool, but Wesker begged to differ. Barry had gone too far, had simply overstepped the line and he couldn't let things get out of control. If he lost control now, everything would be for nothing. He couldn't let Barry destroy it all.

The man in front of him slowly raised his hands, Wesker's handgun still pointed at the back of his head. He was surprised, confused, scared. Wesker couldn't see his eyes, but he could tell by his movements. All those years with STARS had given him the ability to read people, to judge their emotional state by their behavior and actions and right now Barry was an open book.

He had not expected things to turn out this way, as little as Wesker had expected to find the hidden passage to the Aqua Ring bereaved of its secrecy.

"Drop you gun."

The heavy clang of the metal against wood sounded reassuring to Wesker.

"What's going on?" Barry asked, not yet turning around, but suddenly all his surprise was replaced by anger, perhaps curiosity and a distinct rage at himself for not having figured it out earlier when it was so _clear_ now.

"I'm sorry, Barry, but you've stuck your nose where it doesn't belong. I didn't want it to come this far, but you stubbornly went your way and left me no other chance."

"What are you talking about?" the Alpha team member inquired, even though it should have deemed on him already that Wesker was more than the STARS' valiant captain.

"Just what I said, Barry. You opened your eyes to the truth, but the bright light is too much for everyone to bear. You were just about to step into one of their laboratories and there's too much evidence there for your own good."

He noticed how he refered to Umbrella as 'they' even though he hadn't intended to do so on purpose. Wesker guessed it was just his way of accepting that he had left the company for good now.

"You're with them?!" Barry asked, his voice evidently strained. He dropped his arms and turned around, looking directly into the muzzle of Wesker's gun. "You're working for Umbrella!?"

He didn't appreciate that Barry showed so little respect to his captain and captor and ultimately to the weapon pointed at his faced, but hid his annoyance in a snarl.

"No." he answered flatly, and it was true after all, even if it was too complicated for Barry to understand. He wouldn't start explaining now. Barry seemed even more confused by this.

"Who're you working for then?" the mocking tone was enough for Wesker to draw the line. His finger rested on the trigger.

"None of this can get out, Barry. What experiments Umbrella conducted are lamely put 'evil' beyond comprehension, but none of it can reach the public. You have to know," he said, wondering just why he was telling Barry this, "that it would cause a catastrophe. Panic, international conflicts, perhaps even war. If something of this scale gets out, imagine what it can turn to."

The words made Barry think and Wesker question his sanity.

Why wasn't he pulling the trigger already? Chris and Jill were still in the Mansion, dead or alive, they would be sufficient test subjects for the combat data he required. Why didn't he kill Barry right away? Even if Chris and Jill were dead, then fine, so be it, that only meant that human kind was completely inferior to bioengineered soldiers – or the side effects of those, since Wesker hadn't unleashed the real experiments yet.

"You can't let this go unnoticed!" Barry protested suddenly.

"That is not my intention, rest assured," his voice was calm, no trace of the tension found in it. Barry didn't have a retort for this anymore, instead he waited for the inevitable. He did it with the experience of a veteran, piercing into Wesker's eyes, letting him know that he was not afraid to die.

Such a tactic might work on a freaked out one-time criminal, but it let him cold. Yet still; he didn't pull the trigger. Inside Wesker's mind there was intense activity. He didn't want to make rushed decisions. Here was no place for errors. This was an ultimate action; once Barry was dead he would stay that way.

But what about the other STARS? What if they found Barry? What if they found him and Wesker was still within reach? Chris and Jill were probable to be in the mansion still, but there was a small chance that they'd followed his and Barry's tracks.

And Chambers was still there, another mystery Wesker was not able to judge for good or bad. If she knew something and told it to Chris, and Chris met Jill and told her too there were three combatants less that would follow him down into the labs. Barry would be of no use whatsoever other than dead weight; quite literally.

If Chambers proved to know more than she should Wesker needed to have backup. His word against that of the rest of the team usually was enough, but in such circumstances he was treading on thin ice.

Barry was the most experienced member of Alpha team, hence the senior title. Even though his position was beneath Wesker's and STARS prized their Captain and never acted against his orders, they still turned to Barry Burton if they needed assistance or advice.

Wesker had acknowledged the fact early on in the team's development, yet he had never recognized it as a problem. He had even been grateful that the questions stole Barry's time and not his. Now, however, this little fact could prove to be either Wesker's rescue or his downfall. If he let Barry go now, the STARS would either follow him blindly through hell, or shoot him in the back when the first chance provided itself.

To assure his plan was to be successful Wesker needed something to control Barry with. To have his full cooperation, his loyality even if it was against his will.

"Your time hasn't come yet, you can stop looking at me that way."

Barry didn't understand fully, but Wesker could see in his eyes that he was going to refuse anything Wesker asked of him. But he wasn't aware of the ace the STARS commander still had up his sleeve.

"I require your assistance."

"Go to hell!"

"Your reaction is understandable, Mr. Burton, however I fear I must insist." If the barrel pointed at Barry's forehead wasn't enough to convince the man, Wesker's next words certainly were.

"Your wife and children would appreciate your continued support on this mission."

Barry's stare went blank and for a moment Wesker couldn't discern the mix of emotions manifestating in his features.

"You're bluffing," like a real cop he tried to keep his cool. But the façade had shattered already, the possibility of his family in danger was more than enough to do the trick.

"Tell that to their graves later," Wesker spat back, playing his part as the villain.

Barry staggered. Was he going to risk putting off his captain's words as a lie? After the last five minutes he had all reason to, but was he going to do it at the expense of his family? Wesker beamed innerly. He knew that he already had Barry under control like a puppeteer his marionette.

"You're not touching them…" Barry growled, the ice already having cracked.

Wesker lowered the pistol, "I'm glad we understand eachother. You have my word that not a hair on your lovely daughters' head will be harmed."

He knew that he had fueled the man's anger, but anger, just like hope, was a driving force for actions. Why not make use of it? Wesker frowned though, giving the Apha senior a warning look. "The snipers on the roof are some of the best you can get these days. Accurate – and punctual. If I don't contact them every half an hour they'll make sure you can buy a new black suit. So don't be getting any ideas."

"And after this? You'll kill them?!"

"After this you and your family will never see me again. You'll never hear a word from me again."

Barry was silent for a moment, aware that he'd just signed a contract with the devil.

"What do you want?" he asked, defeated.

"I need you to lead Chris and Jill and Rebecca Chambers to a certain location," with this new addition he was going to leave it to Barry to lure the other STARS into the laboratory, while he let the MA-102s and Chimeras loose from a safe room. Now that Barry was going to do the scutwork there was no need for Wesker to make his hands dirty anymore.

"Chirs is alive?" Barry blurted and Wesker reminded himself that Chris had until now been officially dead to the other members of Alpha team.

"Indeed."

"How-"

"That's of no importance now," Wesker cut him off, reaching into one of his vest pockets to reveal a small map. In fact it was the one he had studied at the Training Facility prior to their mission. He passed it to Barry.

"I want you to bring Alpha team to the location titled Gamma Lab. Do that – do it quickly – and I will ensure your family's safety."

Barry studied the map for a moment, "You'll have me lead them into a trap! Into death!"

Wesker smirked, suddenly aware of how easy it was to control the other man, "Your wife would understand, I'm sure." Barry's one vulnerability was his family. He would do anything for them. What Wesker asked of him was but a simple task.

The Alpha senior growled, tucking the map into his own vest carelessly, "Where will you be?"

"I'll be around, never worry."

"What if one of those things gets to you! Your snipers will kill my family then!"

"I'll keep out of harm's way; just for you."

Barry turned around, furious, but Wesker couldn't waste anymore time. He needed to get to the control room situated on the lower levels of the Residence to check on Neptune's status.

"I have something to take care of, if you'll excuse me," he turned towards the exposed stairs giving Barry a last look over his shoulder, "Remember; no progress, no call. It all depends on you."

With that he was gone, leaving Barry to question his morale and hopefully decide for the right thing.

* * *

**My explanation for why Wesker didn't kill Barry right ahead. The man can be very convincing even if he's just bluffing. Things don't seem so bad anymore... well just wait until the next chapter. Poor Wesker will have a hard time then. I'm sure he never thought I could make his life so complicated, tehe. **

**See you in Chapter XII of Bene Merenti, the story that reveals a man's ultimate reasons to sell his humanity for... more.**

**Got reviews, anyone?**


	7. Chapter VII

Chapter VII

The Aqua Ring was flooded. Plant 42 had grown beyond imagination and occupied half of the Residence.

Things were worse than he had expected.

Not to mention the newest discovery to which he had been introduced quickly after entering the control room of the Residence.

Rebecca Chambers had not been the only one to have survived the Training Facility. Enrico Marini, Bravo Team's captain was currently poking his nose into a report that he shouldn't even have gotten near to.

Marini had somehow made his way into the Delta Labs, not far away from the Residence. He was free of infection and causing a lot of havoc. From the last two minutes Wesker had observed his activities the man had browsed through various reports and other files and the chance that Wesker's name had been mentioned in one of those was too high for him to remain comfortable.

If Marini was to meet up with anybody from Alpha team Wesker was screwed. In comparison to Rebecca he was an experienced police officer, one of decent rank even, and a good friend of Barry Burton. Barry, who was going through a delicate situation right. He wouldn't betray Wesker to Chris or Jill, but his friendship with Marini went back to the STARS' beginning. Marini also had a family. Barry would open up to him.

And with two respected STARS members against him, not even Wesker had his team's trust anymore. He decided to forget about Plant 42 and Neptune. The retreival of the samples would take too much time, not to mention that it would be dangerous as hell too.

He had never considered these two to be very valuable specimen anyway and he might be able to convince his new employers of the same opinion. Perhaps he would give them Birkin's substance in exchange.

It brought Wesker's mind back to the little vial still securely packed in his side pocket. He had dismissed the problem until now and feared that he would have to do so once again. More important matters required his attention.

He had to get rid of Marini. And he had to get down into the main labs before Barry gathered the remaining STARS to prepare the Chimeras and Hunters.

He picked up his Beretta from the operating pult beside him and made sure it was fully loaded. The control room was located in immediate proximity of the stairs that had led down from Room 002. It took him no more than a few minutes to backtrack into the actual Residence.

He exited the room, jogging through the hallway. The infected insects from before now littered the entire passage. He tried to swat at them first when they got too near, but quickly decided for another tactic. If they stung him he was a dead man. Or undead rather…

Wesker unloaded a few bullets into the nearest, hoping to scare the rest off that way.

"Annoying nuisances…," he muttered as he watched one drop.

"Wesker!"

At the mention of his name he shot around, mentally slapping himself for not paying attention. The voice that belonged to the newcomer was female. Jill rounded the corner, running. _What the-?_ Where did she come from?

"You're alive!" Jill exclaimed inrelief. She still had no clue what was going on. "We thought you…-"

"Yes, I apologize for that. It was the only way to protect myself from those… things," he hastily made up, glad that Jill didn't notice the lie. Instead she even nodded understandingly, as if she knew exactly what was going on.

"That's okay, I've been having a hard time myself."

"Where is Barry?" Wesker asked, pretending to sound curious. As the team's captain it was his responsibility to keep them together and Jill shouldn't get the assumptions that he neglected his duties. He needed to get rid of her quickly however. Marini wouldn't need an eternity to work through the rest of the files he was currently exploring.

"I don't know. He's somewhere in the Mansion I guess. We split up after you disappeared; in search. I lost myself in the many hallways and once I backtracked to the Main Hall he was gone."

Of course he knew the story already from Barry, but Wesker nodded patiently. Resolutely, he gave her her next orders.

"Jill, I want you to go back to the Mansion and locate Barry. Stay with him and I will catch up with you as soon as I'm finished investigating here."

She nodded.

"There are still unexplored parts of the Mansion and I want you to check them out, Jill. We need to find a safe way out of here. I count on you."

Jill, eager to follow his instructions, turned around and headed to the Mansion where Barry waited for her to lead her into her unpreventable doom.

He waited for Jill to be out of sight before leaving the Residence himself, jogging towards the waterfall that concealed a secret passage to the Delta Labs. Probably Marini had come this way too. It was unlikely that he had found the other, official way. Especially because that one required a keycard or the alternative codes to open the electronical doors.

Wesker did his best to avoid getting very wet while passing by the waterfall and made his way down the metal ladder that waited for him on the other side. From this point on he had to be silent and expect Marini to lurk around every corner.

He unholstered the Beretta, holding it before him. The emergency lightning was still on, providing enough light for him not to use the flashlight. Before getting to the actual Delta Labs he had to cross a complex of caves. As with the catacombs located beneath the Mansion, Umbrella had planned to expand the research facility here too, but never really got the chance to finish the work.

He carefully paced through the cave, trying to make minimal noise. His steps echoed slightly, but he couldn't prevent that from happening. The constant dripping from the wet ceiling was much louder and should Marini be at close quarters Wesker would probably be able to hear him. Unlike him, Marini didn't expect anybody else to lurk around, especially not after he'd witnessed most of his team dying.

Wesker briefly wondered how the Bravo team captain had gotten away from the Training Facility unharmed and once more his worry went to Birkin and the unnerving question popped into his mind whether the researcher had set off the self destruct system at all. Perhaps he hadn't… perhaps he couldn't – perhaps Marcus had gotten to him and he had had no means to defend himself.

Wesker shook his mind free of the thoughts. Not now. There was no time now to wonder about that. Once he was done with this, he could worry. Now he had to concentrate.

Ahead of him there was suddenly the noise of craking hinges.

Somebody had opened a door.

Quickly taking shelter behind the corner he had just walked by, Wesker pressed against the wall. Whoever it was – he presumed it to be Marini – didn't notice him. He held the Beretta close to his body, listening. The person approached Wesker's location. The steps were slow, careful.

Wesker took a deep breath and prepared himself for the coming action. He wasn't sure how much Marini knew, so he was going to try nice first. Raising his gun would take but a split second.

He rounded the corner. Marini pulled up the Beretta, pointing it at his head. He froze when he recognized Wesker – probably he'd thought him to be one of the carriers first – but his gaze remained hard and his weapon raised.

_-he knows-_

Wesker's pistol was up in a second.

"Doublecrosser!" Marini accused him, gripping his gun with both hands now, "Since when have you been working for Umbrella?!"

"Since the beginning," Wesker answered flatly and squeezed the trigger right after. The bullet hit Marini somewhere in his midsection, sending the man flying back.

There was another shot, but this time it didn't come from him.

Probably Marini's finger had twitched during the impact with the wall. Wesker was sure he heard the bullet wheeze through the air. He quickly sidestepped, trying to find protection behind the corner. The missile would have certainly hit some vital part, if not for his quick acting.

He was dully aware of a pain in his biceps, but his attention was focused on Marini. Or rather, the lack thereof.

Marini had used the second and made a run for it.

Wesker would have followed instantly, but suddenly there was the echo of footsteps behind him that let him retreat into one of the alcoves of the cave.

It was Jill.

* * *

**Yes, Wesker is wounded. Muaha, I'm an evil author, I know. I think a review would help him feel better...**

**I hope I managed to cover the part where Wesker and Jill met in the Residence (according to the games) nicely. Still, the captain refuses to think about Birkin's present. Tsk, tsk, if he only knew.**

**Tell me if I have Wesker still in character. It's so awfully hard to keep all the coolness and the mystery around him when I have to write his thoughts, because I think that's a big part of his character. Not knowing what's going on inside his head.**

**Read and review and see you in chapter XIII of Bene Merenti. I say only one word. MA-121. That should give you a hint.**


	8. Chapter VIII

Chapter VIII

He held his breath, didn't move a muscle and Jill was kind enough to pass him without noticing his presence. How she had gotten here was beyond him. The only explanation Wesker had was that she'd heard the gunshots from before.

When he had reached the waterfall Jill had been nowhere in sight though. She was supposed to be back at the Mansion at that, making him wonder what she still did in this part of the estate. When she went through the door Marini had previously escaped through Wesker allowed himself to breath out – and risk a glance at the wound on his left arm.

In the dim light he could only say as much as that his uniform wasn't soaked with enough blood to make the injury dangerous. Probably just a graze shot. Even though the adrenaline had now faded from his system there was only a numb pain. He knew from experience that if it had hit the bone, it would have hurt much more. He had to be extra careful about any contact with infected. An open wound was an invitation with open arms, so to say. He would have to bandage it later. Keep it clean.

Wesker left the alcove, intent on preventing Jill from finding Marini. The man knew about his connection to Umbrella, was probably drawing wrong parallels and putting Wesker into incredible danger by doing so.

Under no circumstances should Jill come across him. Wesker couldn't bear another loss.

He opened the door, rounded the corner, listened cautiously for some sound. There was something glossy on the floor – _his blood_ – and suddenly he heard another door being opened and closed.

He ran, putting his ear to the door, trying to hear something through the massive iron.

"….-h my god, Enrico-…"

Time to act. He carefully pushed the door ajar, just enough for him to slip through.

"…are you with anybody, Jill?" Enrico's strained voice came from around the corner. The corridor was a dead end. Thank god it was a dead end, now the Bravo team captain couldn't escape. Wesker's fingers closed around the gun. He briefly considered pumping a BOW round into Marini – just to make sure – but it would be a waste of ammunition. He had to keep his cool, now more than ever.

Tiptoeing his way to the next corner, he hoped he wasn't too late. It was only one word Marini had to say to screw up his plans – _let the shot be one hit kill_ –

"…Umbrella set us up…"

He glanced around the corner. Jill was kneeling over Marini. She wasn't looking his way.

"….STARS are finished… there's a traitor-"

At the mention of traitor Wesker could have sworn that Marini's gaze drifted away from Jill and towards him, telling him that he couldn't possibly get away with this. He pulled the trigger – _bastard_ – and turned on his heels, running out of the room. He needed to be out of here before Jill found him, needed to backtrack to the Mansion. If she found him in the Mansion she couldn't possibly think of him as the traitor. If she found him now though… he had been in the Residence before, only a few hundred metres away from Marini's resting place. It was suspicious. She didn't need to know about it.

Wesker put up quick pace, no more jogging, but running, his legs pumping, the adrenaline boosting, reminding him of the flight from the MA-39s earlier when Brad had left. Which made him ponder his way of escape once this was done. He would set off the self destruct system, which meant that he only had a limited amount of time to get himself as far away from the Spencer grounds as possible.

Running was an option, but only a short lived one, seeing as he would probably get toasted before making it all too far. Which left the only other alternative he could think of and Wesker didn't like it. He hated having to rely on other people, to put his life into somebody else's hands, yet any logical thinking being knew that he couldn't pull this off alone. He would have to contact her-

-_crack_-

He whirled around, pistol in position. Something had been behind him. The only source of light being the moon, his surroundings melted with oneanother. Slowly he reached down for the flashlight, handgun still pointing at any monster that might suddenly jump out of the dark. With the additional light he could see better, but the problem was that he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. He turned, inspecting all directions. Nothing.

It jumped down from a wall, Wesker wasn't sure from which or how.

At first he didn't know what it was. It was no human carrier; no 'zombie' had that much agility, didn't emanate such gurgling noises, hell, nothing moved so fast.

When it came closer he thought for a split second that it might be the escaped Lisa Trevor.

When it was nearly upon him, Wesker shot.

It didn't slow down.

_-between the eyes-_

Where were its eyes?! – more bullets left his gun.

It screamed, it screeched, before its body rose before him one last time – then it fell, dead to the ground, unmoving. Wesker kept his weapon trained on it. Aswell as the flashlight. The blood in his veins froze.

MA-121. Hunter.

_How the_- it was supposed to be down in the labs, in its cage, with its fellow specimen. Wesker regarded the corpse before him and decided that it was a Hunter, no matter how much it shouldn't be. He frowned. One of the STARS? Down in the lab? In the surveillance room? Accidently freeing the Hunters, the Chimeras – the Tyrant?

Wesker shot around and ran.

MA-121s hunted in packs. If there was one of them about, more were here. Wesker loaded the Handgun while making his way back towards the Mansion, wondering whether he shouldn't get the Magnum out and finally make use of the BOW rounds.

He opened one of the doors toward the Mansion, pausing a moment as he did so. The Hunters were free, no doubt now…. But which way had they left the labs? Had all come out? What about the Chimeras? The mission had just become incredibly harder.

There was no other possibility than to investigate the entrance to the labs, see whether some of the creatures had remained there, waiting for him. He needed to gage the situation. What number of BOWs made a forceful avenge worthwhile? If he had to deal with more than one specimen it would cost ammunition. He wasn't bad on handgun bullets, but neither Chimeras nor Hunters were impressed by them. BOW rounds were very limited. Especially with the thought in mind that he was only considering the entrance to the lab now, not the whole passage down into the third basement level were the Tyrant still slumbered peacefully in the Gamma labs– hopefully.

The only other way leading into the labs was one Wesker dreaded. There was a small elevator at one end of the catacombs beneath the mansion. It was designed to ease transport of materials and was connected directly to one of the lower sections of the research facility

But Lisa Trevor was there and Wesker wasn't sure whether he didn't prefer to face the entire array of bioorganic weapons than her.

It all depended on the situation. Perhaps he could outrun her. Perhaps he didn't even have to see her face – faces? – ever again.

Wesker was almost at the door leading towards the main entrance of the labs. There were no infected around. The path was clear. He couldn't say whether it was a good sign or a bad one. He retreived the Magnum from the leg holster, replacing it with the handgun. If there were specimen around, he wanted to greet them accordingly.

When he finally reached the hallway where the door was located, he stopped abruptly, taking cover behind a corner. The door stood wide open, or better said, the door's remains. Wood was scattered all across the floor. On the bigger pieces Wesker recognized claw marks. That settled it. They had come this way.

He peered from his hiding point and got himself an overview of the situation. It was bad. While he could outrun the human carriers that had gathered there, he would meanwhile be ripped apart by the Hunter. Wesker took a closer look. Make that two. Two that were in his sight. He reminded himself that they hunted in packs and that he didn't want to meet the remaining group members. Nor did he want to encounter an additional Chimera or two. Last time he had checked three had gotten out of their cages, but they had been locked down on the third level. So had been the Hunters. Somebody had set them lose and Wesker couldn't judge how many of them now roamed freely, waiting to stick their claws in his guts.

A sigh escaped his lips and he regretted it the next moment, hoping that the creatures' sensitive ears hadn't picked it up. Since he couldn't hear any movement after that Wesker guessed he had been lucky. He wondered how many bullets it would take to down Lisa Trevor. Certainly less than disposing of the Hunters gathered here.

And he didn't have to kill her. Perhaps he didn't even have to shoot her at all. Perhaps the virus had mutated her body to such extent that her movements were limited and he could simply pass around her like he did with the other human carriers. Because, put in a nutshell, that was exactly what she was: a human carrier, a zombie of sorts.

Wesker turned around, carefully avoiding to make any noise. The Main Hall wasn't far away from this part of the Mansion, however he had to be more alert now. With more than just zombies on the lose a second of inattentiveness could cost him his life. The wound on his arm dully demanded attention, but the blood had already began to clot. It shouldn't cause any further troubles.

When he arrived in the Main Hall, there was no clattering of chains or agonized moans to greet him. Perhaps whoever had freed the BOWs had had the misfortune of letting the woman escape too? It would be too much to ask for.

And indeed, when he reached the gates that prohibited passage towards the catacombs Wesker was faced with a massive lock. He inspected it at first, slightly regretting Jill's absence. The girl could pick any lock in a minimum of time. Wesker, though he could alter the genetic string of human DNA, wasn't so skilled at lockpicking. He made a mental note to invest some time into it and stepped back, reaching for the pistol.

The lock didn't hold against a well placed bullet and with a deep breath he started to descend, wondering where Lisa was and why he couldn't hear her. He ventured deeper into the cavern. Emergency lights illuminated his way, but Wesker was too agigated to ask himself why they were on.

He suddenly reached the end of a long winded corridor, the only way from there a metal ladder leading down into what seemed to be an endless chasm. With the additional power of the flashlight Wesker secured the ladder as best as possible, before urging himself to climb down. There was no artifical light guiding him from there. There was only blackness and the unbearable silence.

Shining the flashlight into every corner, Wesker was able to make out the general plan of the room. He was standing on a platform that led to the other side of the room, likely to be the elevator's location. Around the platform was nothing; or at least nothing Wesker could see. He couldn't say how much it went down there, but a fall was certainly lethal.

Then, she made her presence known. He flashed the light into her direction and caught the last traces of a furious scream, the many dead, decaying faces forming grotesque grimaces on her own mutilated head. Her hands were shackled, torn, attached to chains that should be far too heavy to pull for a little girl.

Suddenly he could smell the death encircling her, blocking his way to security.

_-shoot her in the face, shock her just enough to get through-_

He pulled the trigger of the Magnum and the bullet shot towards Lisa imbedding itself into her neck and blood sprayed from the arteria he'd hit and Lisa screamed so _loud_ and she kept coming, furious - wanting retribution - she remembered – _fire, goddamn _- judgement must be made –

"Captain Wesker!"

He barely turned keeping his attention focused on the abbomination that was advancing, but he recognized the voice in an instant. Chris. Chris Redfield.

"Chris, feel free to take a piece of the action!" he ordered, and to his surprise his voice was calm, cold and he knew that he'd slipped back into the identity of the STARS commander.

Chris Redfield didn't hesitate, blinded Lisa with his own flashlight and pumped his remaining ammunition into her without questions.

"God, what is that?" he asked, while shooting. Even headshots seemed to have little to no impact on Lisa. They slowed her down, but the many faces wouldn't explode, wouldn't die.

"Fire. Fire, until it's dead," Wesker insisted, "Try to shoot it off the platform."

With the combined firepower of both weapons, Lisa's approach was coming to a halt. They concentrated their aim on her legs, forcing her to retreat, but in her agony she didn't notice which way she was heading until the black chasm from underneath her opened its maw and devoured her as a whole.

"Damn," Chris said beside him out of breath and Wesker thought he'd pinned it down nicely. Nonetheless he kept to his role as captain.

"Chris, you survived. Is there anyone else with you?" he was hinting at it of course, though Redfield couldn't know.

"I found Rebecca Chambers from Bravo Team. She seems to be the sole survivor. I left her in one of the safe rooms, she seems quite-"

"Good, get her," Wesker interrupted, hurried, "Jill and Barry must be somewhere too, I want you to search for them. I think I might have found a way out of here."

Chris nodded, the relief showing in his eyes. He was apparently waiting for Wesker to take the lead.

"Go ahead, I want to make sure this thing is dead," he explained and it wasn't even so far off the actual truth. It was definitely enough to satisfy Chris and Wesker's flashlight was soon the only illumination within the cavern.

He shone it towards the exit, towards the lab and as he made his way to the other side Wesker looked down a last time, letting the darkness engulf Lisa's body and death finally take what was left of her.

"Be a good girl and stay dead this time."

* * *

**Hm... I never really understood what Wesker was doing down at Lisa's playground, but for every unreasonable action in the game there has to be a reason! I hoped you like mine, it was the only one I could come up with that didn't directly have Wesker acting stupidly.**

**You might notice that Wesker's thoughts are getting a little disorganized as the story develops. This is to underline the fact that he's slowly getting worried about almost everything goin wrong. In the end it'll lead to him doing something completely enexpected, but more on that later, hehe.**

**I'd like to use this time and thank everyone who has reviewed this story so far, you're a big help!**

**So see you again in Chapter IX of Bene Merenti, where someone (wonder who?) has a first encounter with the Chimeras.**


	9. Chapter IX

**A/N: Apologies for the late update. The site seemed to have some problems and wouldn't let me edit my stories.**

Chapter IX

He didn't go back to the surveillance room. The small elevator had dropped him on the third level, whereas the control room was on the first. It made no sense to expose himself to danger just to be able to see what had happened. And his current destination had a small monitoring section too, anyway. He could inspect things from there without risking to lose lis life in the progress.

He was very careful, barely breathing, checking all corners of the hallways he ventured through, almost at the same time. This was the level all BOWs were bred and held in. He knew for sure that three Chimeras were here. They were very territorial, even more so than the Hunters. Wesker knew noone who had ever survived an intrusion into their domain.

Earlier, just after he had left the elevator he had passed through one of their sections, but the respective Chimera hadn't been there at that time. He should consider himself lucky for that, because it had left a very clear message to warn all those who dared to come too near.

The mangled corpse of Dr. Fisher had been strewn across the floor, the walls and the ceiling. The pulp of flesh barely held any reassemblance to a human being anymore and if not for the somehow unscathed name tag, Wesker couldn't have said who or what it once was.

He had understood the note, left the territory as swiftly as possible. There were only two doors parting him from the elevator that was the sole mean of access to the Gamma Lab, where Umbrella stored the Tyrant and various important documents, even samples. He could stock up on his collection with them a bit, because right now it was really pathetic.

Apart from Birkin's mysterious substance that could be anything from colored water to the greatest invention of human science, Wesker was walking around with empty hands. He would have the chance to record the entire surveillance tape from the time of their arrival until now, including the STARS' future fights against the experimental BOWs and the T-002.

Yes, if any of them made it this far, he fully intended to show them world's best soldier, the ultimate bioweapon of this time, to show them that no matter how well trained they were, they stood no chance against the results of modern science.

The way to the elevator was free. He pressed the button to call it up and somehow wasn't surprised to find it in a penibly clean state. Opening the mesh gate before him Wesker entered the elevator, about to push the 'down' button.

His finger stopped just an inch away from the metal; he listened. From afar came a distant clatter.

…_clink…clank…clink…_

Whatever it was, he wasn't intent on meeting it. He pressed the button.

_clink, clank, clink, clank_

The elevator's flat voice informed him that the mesh gate needed to be closed before the operating system could be initiated.

_clinkclankclinkclankclinkclankclank_

He hurled the gate closed, pushing the button again, annoyed. The magnum was at the ready. Whatever was coming, it was coming fast.

When the elevator doors finally started closing, a piece of metal suddenly fell down from the hallway roof and a many legged creature emerged from the ventilation shaft, screaming in frustration that it had been too slow to catch its prey. It flung itself against the mesh gate, punched into it and wasn't at all impressed by the muzzle of the heavy magnum pointed at its body. Instead it cursed and screeched, making abnormal sounds that didn't drown out until the elevator brought him two levels deeper and Wesker had nearly forgotten how grotesque the insect like Chimeras looked.

He didn't think that it could break through the mesh gate. Chimeras relied on their speed and their multiple legs, rather than on brute strength. While the metal wire wouldn't have posed the tiniest of efforts for a Hunter, he hoped it would keep the Chimera busy enough.

Wesker wondered whether it had been the Chimera whose territory he'd passed earlier, or another of the three that were officially free. At least now he knew how they were moving through the laboratory complex. They were using the ventilation shafts. He was glad that a few metres of think concrete parted this lab from the rest of the estate. All doors down here were also enforced, hindering anything to get in – or out. If he carefully blocked the path behind him Wesker could be sure not to be surprised at any time.

The elevator reached its destination, opening for Wesker to step out. The way was clear and somehow no sign of the catastrophe that had occurred in the rest of the Spencer Mansion was visible here. Everything looked as if it had just been built newly and he was the first person to step into this creation.

Wesker rounded the corner, still holding his weapon up despite the deceptive tranquility.

The next room had definitely cost Umbrella as much money as the entire police building took to be built from scratch. A variety of test tubes filled most of his sight. At the farther end monitors lined the wall, some showing what was going on in the other labs, some were wired to record the data of the massive Tyrant that slumbered in a glass tube, that was by far the biggest.

It took him but a few steps to reach the other side, but a few glances to assure that the Tyrant was not harmed. Despite its bizarre appearance, Wesker knew to praise its brilliance. To some it might only seem like a frankensteinian monster out of a B-movie, but Wesker remembered how much work it had been to create it out of a single viral strain and how many sleepless nights it had cost him to perfect its attributes.

He turned away from the Tyrant, moving towards the surveillance screens. Though his curiosity about the BOWs' release was big, Wesker had something more important to think about. He pushed various buttons until one of the monitors finally showed what he wanted to see. What he would have wanted to see.

The image was of the Mansion's emergency heliport. Usually Umbrella had a small chopper in case of crisis stored there. Brilliant minds were scarce, and the company was prepared to evacuate its best scientists if danger arose. The only remains of the little evac chopper was a heap of broken metal. Perhaps there had been infected on board and it had crashed before it could even raise into the sky properly; the scenarios were many.

What mattered to Wesker was that he could forget this part of his plan too, and he could really see no other option than to contact her now.

Retreiving the radio from his hip pocket, Wesker pressed the required sequence of bypass Umbrella's transmission interferance they had installed to keep curious ears deaf to their affairs.

He waited for her voice to replace the static beeping tone that indicated connection.

"Yes?" a female voice finally answered.

"I request your help."

"Where?"

"The parking lot behind the Spencer Mansion. Be there at," he glanced at his watch, "4:45am. Sharp." he added, wondering when time had passed so quickly.

"Yeah, no questions I guess," she said.

"The self destruct will be on. I suggest you bring an appropriate vehicle."

"Okay," she simply stated, her voice businesslike, and the beeping tone returned again.

Wesker put the radio back, not willing to think about the matter further. He hated cooperating with Ada Wong, but at the moment she was the only person who could – and would – place a step near the Mansion. Their unspoken contract was complicated and he refused to devote his thoughts to such unnecessary things.

He needed to focus his attention back on the remaining STARS, to speed up matters now that he had a time frame to keep to. Wesker had left himself a good hour and a half to regain the last combat data, set off the self destruct system and bypass all creatures on his way out.

The screens flickered before him as he scanned for the location of Alpha team, briefly wondering about the expression on Chris' face when he had found Wesker missing down in the catacombs.

His eyes locked on one of the monitors. It showed the great library of the Mansion. Books were strewn all across the floor, wood shattered and the big chandelier lay broken on the floor. The room's devastating look was not what had caught Wesker's attention though. It was rather the immense snake that lay immobile in its midst, dead. He knew in an instant that it had been this monstrosity that had bitten Richard Aiken, yet who had killed it? Rebecca Chambers, the rookie from Bravo team? Chris Redfield, the valiant Alpha team member? Barry, the family man, or Jill, the unsuspecting officer?

He typed something on the keyboard and the screens showed the Residence. The Aqua Ring, Plant 42. While the Aqua Ring was in the same condition as he'd left it behind, the enormous spawn that was the T-virus infected Plant 42 had changed very much. It had occupied so much of the Residence that Wesker hadn't been able to get a sight through all the cameras. Many of them had been overgrown by ivy. Most of them were still; but he got a very clear look on one that was free. It was located in the grand hall that served as leisure room for the employees working there. In its midst lay the scorched remains of what once had been Plant 42. Miserly, shrinked, not at all dangerous anymore, the T-virus having been eradicated from its system.

An eyebrow furrowed in distaste, Wesker pushed more commands. One of the Hunters lay dead before the entrance to the Mansion – the one he'd killed – but there were more BOWs. Dead BOWs. Another MA-121, sprawled across the floor, its limbs facing into awkard directions. There was a gaping hole between its eyes, splattering some of its brains onto the wall behind it. The only large calibre gun that could do that was Barry's colt, Wesker concluded. STARS proved to be more of a challenge than he had thought.

The next set of controls brought his team on the screens. Partially at least. Jill and Barry had found oneanother and were already heading through the upper parts of the labs. He wondered how they had gotten past the Hunters that had guarded the main entrance. Wesker had seen the remains of one before. He observed the monitor the two were moving on closer, but they weren't infected. Not even a scratch. Remarkable. But then again, _he_ had trained them. He had also been involved in the creation of many BOWs, but STARS were entirely his merit.

Though the pride made him feel better for a second, it faded quickly and was replaced by a cold emptiness. What if he had trained them too well? What if they overcame every obstacle he threw at them? What if Barry decided to suddenly change sides and Wesker found himself with four guns pointed at him?

_- but they'll face the Tyrant… they'll face the Tyrant first and you've got nothing to worry –_

And what if they killed the Tyrant just as they had dispatched of all the other evils? Wesker searched the monitors for Chris Redfield, pushing the troubling thoughts out of his mind. Everything would go well if he kept his cool. None of them had yet gotten into any of the Chimera territories and the BOWs had to take down at least one of them.

He finally found Chris. Surprisingly enough on the third sublevel of the labs – _he must have used the small elevator_ - Chambers was at his side, pointing her gun into every direction and for a short moment the amusing thought came to his mind that he was watching a low budget cop movie, where the heroes had finally found the villain's lair.

This wasn't a movie though, this was reality. Reality at its finest, where every wrong placed breath could be the last. He absently brushed through his hair, only now noticing the few beads of sweat that slowly built upon his forehead and wiped them off. Was he losing it now? He couldn't fail. Not now, not when he was so close to success.

Wesker took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. If they made it to the labs, he'd unleash the Tyrant upon them. And what the hell was he going to do during the fight? Stand by and watch, film the entire massacre? Hope that no bullet would hit him and the Tyrant wouldn't turn on him? But no. Tyrant was a biological weapon. No gun turned on you, if you didn't turn it yourself. He'd give the right commands, and the right orders would be carried out.

Chris and Rebecca had ventured into one of the territories. The Chimera wasn't present yet, but it'd ease him of troubles once it arrived. One of the two would die. At least Rebecca Chambers had to go. She had survived so long, it was time for her to join her captain and the rest of her teammates in hell.

Then, the Chimera made its grand appearance by jumping down out of the ventilation shaft. He rejoyed in the sight of both Chris and Rebecca jumping back in surprise, in fear, and concentrated back on the spectacle. Chris had his weapon pointed at the monstrosity, Chambers was still too shocked to act. The Chimera roared in fury, enraged about the intruders and determined not to let them escape another time.

It charged. Chambers screamed. He could see her mouth agape, her eyes wide, her muscles tensing. Chris was shouting something, shooting, but to no avail. The insect like being advanced. It would break them, rip them apart. Wesker leant forward, his body unconsiously tensing as he waited for the inevitable to happen.

Then, metres before it could pluck its many legs into the Bravo rookie the Chimera fell dead to the ground. It's head was missing.

At the other end of the corridor stood Jill and Barry. Barry's colt had downed the Chimera in one shot. He thought he could see the relief on everybody's features as they met again. Jill couldn't believe Chris was alive, Rebecca was happy yet still shocked, Chris embraced his fellow Alpha members.

But when Barry suddenly started to talk and all others were silent, Wesker was sure his heart stopped beating.

* * *

**Ugh, I wouldn't want to be in Wesker's place right now. Everything falls apart! Can't a man simply have his freedom? **

**A note on the appearance of a special Asian spy and her relation to Wesker: no game, or report described how he escaped the mansion really. I will disregard the 5 second scene from UC where you see him running around in the woods (he'll do that here too, hehe) but Ada's presence will play a big part at the end of this story and in the one that follows after this (yes, I'm writing another one :P). It might not seem cannon at first, but since Ada was hired by Wesker during RE2, why shouldn't she have been working for him earlier too?**

**Find everything out in the next chapter of Bene Merenti!**

**Wanna leave a review and tell me how I'm doing so far?**


	10. Chapter X

Chapter X

He didn't know what they were up to and that was the worst thing. The audio feed wasn't working and Wesker could only guess. His guesses reached from the harmless to the most fatal situations and he couldn't rid himself of the feeling that it was all going terribly wrong.

_Get a grip on yourself._

Though he hadn't managed that yet, the gun in his hand was slightly shaking already and the muscles in his fingers cramped in pain from the force he held the weapon with.

For whatever reason they had split up again. Chambers and Redfield into the direction of the helipad, Barry Burton and Jill advancing towards the Gamma Lab. It was incredibly hard to find an explanation for their actions, and it irked Wesker more than his failure to retreive samples of any kind yet. Of course he could find tissue of both Hunter and Chimera, aswell as Tyrant material in the room he was in, but Plant 42, Neptune and in the end, Lisa Trevor were gone for good.

But he didn't care about that! _Ten years_, that was what mattered. Ten years and he couldn't constitute his team's behaviour, hadn't been able to guess their survival rate correctly. They had killed everything he'd thrown at them, were advancing relentlessly and driving Wesker farther into a corner that offered no escape for him.

He had been too confident. It should have been clear at last when he had encountered Enrico, when a half-second had saved him from the consequences of a well placed shot from the Bravo Captain. Perhaps Wesker had put too much of his own trust into the fact that STARS would follow him blindly. Perhaps not they, but he had been given the runaround.

Yes, it was the wrong thing to throw wild accusations around now. Yes, it distracted his attention from the approaching peril, but for the first time he came to consider the other option. The invisibility cloak he could pull over, to make STARS believe they had succeeded, to make Umbrella believe they had failed and to emerge triumphantly – alive – himself, so he could show them all that toying with Albert Wesker had its consequences.

His hand rested on his vest pocket unconsciously and the outline of the item he felt gave Wesker a new perspective of things, even though the logical part of his mind screamed that it was an act of foolishness, hysteria, suicide! Not only would he let Alpha team win that way, no, Birkin would have his revenge – _but on what?_ – too and he couldn't let it happen.

But what could he let happen?

Wesker sunk into the chair in front of the monitors, watching Jill and Barry as they walked through another of the Chimera territories. He wasn't expecting them to succumb to the BOWs anymore, instead his mind raced to decide what to do with them when they arrived.

His initial plan had been to lure all STARS members into the lab at once and expose them to the Tyrant's malice, but with Chris and Rebecca wandering around who knew where, his plan was once more reason to change.

The Tyrant might be the greatest invention in bioorganic warfare, but as with many others of Umbrella's experiments it wasn't finished yet. The original requests had been worked upon already; heightened metabolism, agressivity, insensibility to pain. However, the Tyrant was still lacking what seemed to Wesker like the most important attribute: control.

Once activated from its artificial sleep it would do what it had been created for: attack, maim, kill. The only problem was that it would do so randomly. The Tyrant didn't differentiate between friends and enemies. Once Wesker set the Tyrant lose it was just as dangerous as the other BOWs, with the only difference that its strength was tenfold if not higher and that, by the time it would be unleashed he would be trapped in the same room as the other STARS. There was no way to predict if or when the Tyrant was going to turn on him and Wesker couldn't live by the illusion that it would kill Alpha Team first and give him enough time to escape after that. Or give him the opportunity to flee before and effectively trap the others in the Gamma Lab.

He couldn't believe that he hadn't thought about this earlier. Well, he had. He just hadn't included the possibility of so many survivors. With one or two at most, his plan might have succeeded. They would be too occupied with the Tyrant to notice him slipping away and Wesker could access one of the other computers to collect their combat data and activate the self destruction while they were trapped with the BOW.

Yes, that had been his plan, Wesker thought. And now he had had to cut away and replace parts until it had become useless. And so he'd put a spoke through his own wheel, so to say, leaving him with only a spare one from Birkin, that Wesker didn't want to test on its capacity.

But was it about choice at all anymore?

_You're getting philosophical. Concentrate, damnit._

Then, something caught his attention and for a moment he was glad to be rid of the pessimistic thoughts. Chris Redfield held the radio up to his ear, as if he was receiving some message. Which was impossible in itself, because Umbrella had that machine installed that blocked any traceable waves to protect their own data transfer. The possibility of Chris having been able to work around the system was unlikely – but how many more of these improbabilities hadn't Alpha team mustered in the previous twenty-four hours. Should he be surprised?

Wesker went for his own receiver that was attached to his utility belt, switching back to the frequency STARS used and was slightly shaken by the voice that fought against the static.

"….Brad here…..can is…last chance…anybody…"

Vickers. The pilot. The coward.

Wesker immediately started pressing different buttons to get himself a view of the outside of the Mansion and the Labs' heliport. And there he was, circling the chopper around the Estate, waiting for someone to respond to his call of distress.

_Nobody will, though…_

If STARS found a way to leave the grounds now, he could shoot himself in the head right away. Umbrella would be finished for one thing, but Wesker could forever forget his career, too. Barry would spill the beans once they were out of here and instead of beginning a new life, Wesker could spend the rest of his time running _for_ his life. Not only would STARS pursue him; Umbrella would too. They couldn't have him running about freely, not with his knowledge, and keeping him employed was like wearing a board with 'we conduct illegal experiments on bioorganic weaponry' inscribed on it.

He somehow had to stop them making contact with Brad. The transmission machine was just a short way from here, up the elevator and then straight ahead down the hallway. If need be he could give it a manual restart.

Wesker searched the room on the security cameras, not foolish enough to venture out into danger without analizing the problem before.

It didn't need more than a brief glance to show that he wouldn't be able to repair much with a manual restart. The machine had fallen victim to one of the Chimeras that was apparently seeing itself imperilled by the bright lights that had blinked to signalize activity. The specimen was trashing its arms violently at the remaining light bulbs, destroying the entire engine in the process.

_Shit_.

Wesker wasn't a man to curse often, but the situation just seemed to call for it. He viewed the screens again and saw Rebecca and Chris heading back at a fast pace, probably getting the others. Jill and Barry apparently hadn't heard Brad's call, because they were still coming closer.

He sighed, and was slightly aware of the throbbing in his arm aswell as that in his head. _The migraine's coming back…_

He was a dead man this way or the other. If he survived, he would be prosecuted his entire life. If he died, well, true he wouldn't face any of these problems, but he would be dead and that put a pretty fast end to the story.

There was a faint trace of temptation, and even though what had started out as annoying irk had become a pulsating throb, Wesker couldn't risk it. Who knew what Birkin had mixed into that concotion. It could have him die before he hit the floor. It could exert magnificent effects that he hadn't even been able to dream of. It could send him on a trip to wonderland, or it could be a fake altogether and be as dangerous as a glass of water.

Ignoring the part of his mind that was still fiercly fighting against the decision, Wesker fished out the vial and Birkin's letter that had come with it. He inspected the substance. There was nothing unusual about it. It was of clear transparent colour with fluidity resembling water. Since the little case was closed he couldn't say anything about smell, even less about taste, but from the looks of it Wesker couldn't make out more than he had already known before.

The letter didn't clear him up either. If anything, it brought up more questions. His eyes locked on Birkin's last words, not sure how to interpretate them.

'_I'm not sure how this will help._

_Put it to good use.'_

Put it to good use, what was that supposed to mean. Was Birkin kidding him? Slipping an unknown virus among the sedatives – of which he hadn't even used any, Wesker reminded himself – and expect him to inject who knew what into himself without knowing its exact effects?

What had Birkin been thinking? Why hadn't he breached the topic in the hours they had spent supervising the Training Facility? He'd rather tried to distract Wesker from taking a closer look at the box of sedatives.

But that wasn't important. Birkin's reasons, whatever they were, remained Birkin's reasons. What mattered now was to get an overview about the substance, put up pros against cons and finally decide what action to take. It wouldn't take forever for Barry and Jill to find their way down into the Gamma Lab, and by that time Wesker wanted to have a failsafe plan up.

According to Birkin's words the substance merely enchanced his metabolic abbilities, boosted the healing process, and nothing more. In the letter he hadn't mentioned any side effects apart from the host not accepting it into its system. Of course Wesker knew that things like this always had more side effects than listed and Birkin certainly hadn't mentioned the bad things in his letter.

The question was, what effect outweighed the other? Positive or negative?

What alternatives were left other than this one?

Shooting STARS and getting the hell out of here, without any data at all? Ignoring Alpha team completely and just fleeing? Neither of these were Wesker's way of handling problems. After a lifelong career at Umbrella, did he really want it to end like this?

To make a coward out of himself, a match to Brad Vickers who'd turned his back as soon as danger reared its ugly head?

Anger rose, desparation, denial of the possible future.

_-not this way-_

Wesker turned, determined to do the right thing and assessed one of the medical equipment drawers.

There was no other alternative and Albert Wesker definitely wasn't a coward to run away in the face of danger.

He picked up one of the syringes, antiseptic, a swab and a rubber tubing to tie off his arm. Taking the glass phial, he broke off the upper end and inserted the thin needle, sucking the liquid into the syringe with experienced ease. How often had he done this? Hundred times, thousand?

It seemed nothing out of order as he prepared another body for an injection, but this time it was his own. He remembered how often he'd watched the subjects trash and shake uncontrollably after administration, and how often he'd wondered what was going on behind the screams, and pained expressions.

Wesker formed a fist, encouraging the blood to accumulate in the vein and cleansed the skin with the antiseptic agent. With his right hand he took the syringe, carefully inserting the needle into the arm and hopefully, the vein. To make sure, he pulled at the plunger, glad to see rivulets of blood entering the barrel. That meant he'd hit the vessel.

With his teeth, he ripped the rubber band off, plunged the needle deeper into the vein, slowly pushing the substance out of the syringe. Intravenous shots had to be given slowly, since the entire dose was at disposal at once and the sudden concentration could lead to a drop in bloodpressure or collapse. The last thing he needed was STARS finding him slumped against a console like a junkie who'd taken a shot too big for his own good.

Wesker extracted the syringe from his arm, putting it on the drawer beside him. Now he waited. Birkin said that the substance needed about five minutes to take effect.

He tried to feel something, to trace the drug's way, but he didn't feel anything apart from a mix of pain and itch in his left biceps, but that was probably coming from the strain he'd put on the arm during injection.

Wesker sat, watching the screens that showed Jill and Barry steadily advancing through the third Chimera's territory, and wasn't sure whether to feel worried about the absence of _some_ effect, or releived that in the end nothing had happened.

* * *

**A note on Birkin's letter and the mysterious substance: To those who haven't read my other story** Ab Initio**, that's where you can find the full version of the letter (last chapter) and Wesker coming across the phial. It's not necessary to read it, but it might clear up a bit of confusion this chapter might have caused.**

**And another thing, notice that Wesker's having more strange thoughts as the story progresses. By strange I mean emotional, frustrating, the slightest hints of fear. Those feelings will play a major part in the next chapter, where our favorite STARS commander is taking a decision he probably wouldn't even have thought about in other circumstances.**

**See you in Chapter 11 of Bene Merenti!**


	11. Chapter XI

Chapter XI

It was remarkable how the third Chimera refused to make an appearance until the almost end. Eventually it jumped down from the same ventilation shaft it had greeted Wesker from, but this time there was no mesh gate to protect the STARS members from its fury.

While holding his left arm with the other hand – it had started throbbing alarmingly now, he would have to see to it before any of the team arrived – Wesker watched Jill raise her handgun and shoot frantically at the BOW, but they hadn't caught it off guard and the Chimera relied on it agility and speed to evade her attacks.

It jumped, feigned, screamed in mockery at the members of Alpha team and climbed the walls and roof to avoid their bullets. Barry and Jill were left with no choice but to retreat, the Chimera on their heels. Jill dove for the nearest door and disappeared, covering Barry, so he could enter too. The door was made of metal and as much as the Chimera scratched against it with all its legs; it wouldn't break. On the monitors Wesker saw that Barry stemmed his entire weight against the door and Jill was apparently searching for something they could use to block the entrance with.

Wesker rubbed at his arm unconsciously, wanting the pain to ease. He didn't know what effects Birkin's substance should show, but apart from a slight lightheadedness – the absence of worry and stress – he didn't feel differently. He was alert and there had been a sudden boost of adrenaline at some time, but Wesker guessed that it must have come from the injection – not from the substance itself, but rather from the needle piercing his skin – and of course from the realization that the entire Alpha team had survived.

Speaking of which, Chris and Rebecca had gotten lost in the maze of laboratories – or labyrinths? – and were helplessly trapped on the second sublevel where Wesker was pleased to have sighted one of the escaped Hunters, that seemed to have suffered the same fate too. He wondered when they would meet.

Turning away from the screen, he began to roll up the bloody sleeve, attributing the pain to the fact that he had probably recovered from the shock phase and his body was now trying to cope with the injury.

The blood on the shirt was still wet and sticky, clinging to his fingers and cut-off combat gloves. But it wasn't much and judging by the condition of the fabric it must really have been a graze shot.

When he removed the sleeve and had full view of the wound though, Wesker froze, for a moment not knowing what to think. Only when he brushed over the skin with his fingers, did his mind start to race.

There was blood on the arm, definitely his, the skin was red and irritated where the shot had hit, and even though Wesker thought he had been seeing things first, he was feeling it now too. No torn open flesh, injured muscle tissue, the skin was merely extremely sore, but there was no intrusion or extrusion where the bullet could have been and –_ but there's blood _– it deemed on him that the five minutes Birkin had jotted down as incubation time had passed and that there was a reason his arm had hurt increasingly over the last few minutes –

_- healing process, accelerated treatment, closing of tissue caused pain -_

_- God, William –_ Wesker was suddenly sure that the scientist hadn't lied, that he'd saved his life with this act, and he didn't care about the 'why's and 'how's anymore, simply knew that the tide had turned, that Jill and Barry, who had somehow made it past the Chimera again and were now entering the elevator, could forget their little deed of glory, because he wasn't going to let them spoil everything he'd built up so carefully during his entire life.

Wesker took the pistol, started to tap commands into the computer, preparing the battle data and banished all thoughts about possible side effects or backstabs. The entire frustration seemed to be gone, as if picked up by a hurricaine and flung a thousand miles away. Wesker had control again, understood the situation and calmly assessed one matter after the other, finding solutions to all the problems.

When Barry and Jill entered, he finished his typing before turning around to face them. When he did, he did it with a raised weapon which was aimed at Jill's head, ready to pull the trigger whenever necessary.

"Wesker, wha-?"

Barry's own colt was up in a second, pointing it at Jill from behind. He could see the older man's expression, and though he tried to keep his face void of emotions, Wesker could discern so many. Fear, guilt, anger, only to name a few.

"Well, what do you know," Jill said, and the tone in her voice indicated that she had realized what was going on, "You set the team up?" The question was directed at Wesker and he couldn't help but smirk.

"Exellent deduction, Jill."

"And you helped him!" Jill didn't turn around, but it was clear that the accusation was meant for Barry. Wesker thought he could recognize a sudden burst of emotions on the man's face.

"Ah, don't blame Barry for everything. I heard his daughters and better half would be in danger if he doesn't do exactly what I tell him to." He took a twisted sense of pride in those words and enjoyed the look on Barry's face even more.

Then Jill blurted out, "You're pathetic!" and Wesker didn't approve of how she was adressing her commanding officer. He didn't like it a bit and could feel anger accumulating. After all this years she still had the nerve to talk to him like that?

"Don't worry," he assured, his voice strained to be kept under control, "You'll soon be free of all this anyway."

He was tempted to shoot her right in her pretty face, to put an end to it already, but he still had to think of Chris and the Chambers girl. If Jill's guts were spilled all over the floor, that wouldn't make a good impression.

"Barry," he made it sound as if it was a statement, as if there was nothing more to add to it. "Take Miss Valentine one level higher, if you'd be so kind. There's a cell block there – you'll find it jotted down on the map." He gazed at Jill then, though she couldn't see the annoyance hidden behind his sunglasses, "she seems to need some time to think about her behaviour."

The Alpha member in front of him nodded grimly, but it was evident that he found it hard to obey the orders. Wesker was more than willing to poke him into the right direction.

"And Barry; don't try anything funny. I have my eyes everywhere, and one wrong move can displease me enough to forget about my next call."

It was enough to convince Barry to choose between right and wrong and Wesker watched the two turn around, heading out of the lab. Before they reached the door Jill suddenly whirled around.

"You'll never get away with this!" she yelled, but Barry's heavy hands directed her outside towards the elevator.

The door automatically closed behind them, and Wesker turned back to procuring the data and preparing the samples.

He'd never get away with it, she'd said. How could she be so sure? By the time Wesker was out of the Mansion, safe and secure, Jill would be nothing more than a part of the great pile of ash, that would be all of the evidence of Umbrella's doings.

He would get away with it. He'd manage just as he had managed getting away ten years as a double agent, as he had managed to keep a stable mental level between injecting human hosts with the T-virus and leading STARS into breakneck operations, as he'd managed to keep up the façade to Umbrella about being loyal to them, as he'd managed to make STARS loyal to _him_.

Wesker's jaw hurt from the force his teeth were clenched with. Jill Valentine knew so little of the world, that the truth would irrevocably blind her.

He typed in the last command and then looked up at the Tyrant, that was ignorant to the happenings around it in its stasis, and then his eyes darted towards the observation screens to realize that Chris and Rebecca were on the right way again, approaching his sanctuary to learn that, of all the secrets they had uncovered until now, none was so big as that which they were going to find out about now.

The last entry into the computer had started the Tyrant's activation. In the short time after the injection Wesker had found his confidence again and he just knew that with this new ace up his sleeve, he didn't even have to fear the Tyrant anymore.

Because, with the turn of events, he had incorporated the BOW into his plans again, even if with a slightly alternated denotation. He'd carefully gone through all possibilities and at last Jill's unapraising behaviour had let him decide in favor of it.

He must take precautions, even if the chance that STARS survived the outbreak was slim. If any of them made it out alive, Wesker was putting his bets on Redfield. Chris was the most skilled, and though by far less experienced than Barry, held the most potential. He'd proven it time and time again during their missions and even though his ultimate test was yet to be taken, Wesker didn't want to be caught off guard – again.

He'd make sure that none of those pesky STARS ever troubled him again. The Tyrant would play a key part in all this. It would enable him to finally begin anew, by setting an end to this nightmare.

Yes, they'd call him crazy.

Yes, they'd call him foolish.

Unprofessional.

A traitor.

But in the end he would win, and that was their fatal mistake. They didn't take all scenarios into consideration, weren't in control, because _he_ had the power.

He'd thought thoroughly about it. An infection was very unprobable, because the virus only transmitted through bodily fluids, and Wesker wouldn't come into contact with any of them. He'd position himself in front of the tube, activate the BOW and then, when it lunged to escape its cage… it would fool Chris Redfield into believing that he had succeeded in breaking through Umbrella's lies and deceptions and Wesker would win.

Because he'd get away with it, contrary to Jill's beliefs.

Chris Redfield and Rebecca Chambers entered the room that was littered with test tubes of nightmares come to life.

Wesker was still staring at the screens, at the Tyrant, but in a flat voice he noted, "So you've come."

A hint of a smile formed on his lips, but it was eradicated the second it developed. "Of course you've come. Chris, you make me proud… but of course you're one of my men."

"…thanks..:" Chris said uncertainly, and from the corner of his eye Wesker saw how the Alpha member placed a warning hand in front of Rebecca, motioning her not to advance any further.

Wesker turned around, pistol up in a split second and the look in Chris' eyes, as he understood, as he finally understood but was denying to _believe_ was one he would never forget.

"Since… since when?" Chris asked, and Wesker could hear how hard it was for him to come to terms with the truth.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," he answered snidely, and marginally noticed that he started to enjoy this game.

"Since when have they been slipping you a paycheck?!" Chris nearly shouted, frustrated.

"I think you're a bit confused," Wesker started and stepped nearer to the marksman, giving Chambers a curt glare. She'd been stunned into silence when the first words had been exchanged and somehow he was disappointed of her lack of knowledge. She'd survived so long, had been exposed to the truth far longer than all the others and yet she had effectively shielded its bright light out.

"I've always been with Umbrella," he stated blankly.

Chris raised a hand and pointed an accusing finger at him, quite literally. Wesker gathered from the tone of his voice that the man had a hard time keeping his temper in check. "You killed them with your own dirty hands, you son of a bitch!"

He was obviously refering to the dead STARS members, but Wesker was enraged of this accusation. Killed them? Killed them? He'd disposed of Marini because Marini had threatened him, but the other members of Bravo team had simply been incompetent, unable, undeserving of surviving.

His next words were no more but a low hiss, as he pointed his gun at Rebecca Chambers and pulled the trigger, finally freeing himself of all the unnecessary worries he'd had about her. "Yeah, just like this," he said, to do Chris' argument of 'they' justice.

Rebecca fell to the floor, but didn't say another word. It was a pathetic way of dying, because she had missed all those opportunities offered to her, had deliberately ignored all the information in her immediate proximity.

"Rebecca!" Chris called and was about to kneel beside the fallen rookie, but Wesker had his weapon trained on the man faster than he could move.

"I don't think you want to die just yet," he said and suddenly his heart seemed to pick up in pace, because he could feel the moment drawing closer. "I have something that might be of interest to you."

Not letting Chris out of the eye, Wesker simply extended an arm backwards, finding the button straight away. The stasis tank containing Tyrant drained - _and it's time_.

"The ultimate lifeform…" he murmured, barely aware that he was saying it aloud, because Wesker's thoughts were everywhere, just not focused on the Tyrant, and he was walking – _into certain death_ – and observed the droplets of fluid flowing down the glass tube, and didn't catch Chris' comment, because its arm twitched and – _it's ove_r – its eyes opened, locked on him, and then the glass shattered and it was the most disgusting sound Wesker had ever heard.

Suddenly he couldn't breathe, because _– it's over_ – the bile, that turned out to be blood, rose into his throat and the Tyrant had lifted him into the air with no effort at all, and Wesker felt how he slipped closer to its abhorring face.

He tried to hold on to something, but there was only the Tyrant's claw, and it was bloody, slick and sticky with crimson. He tried to do _something_, but the only thing coming from his throat was a wet gurgle, and he could see in all clarity how the Tyrant suddenly grinned _–but it can't_ – and then he was flying, hitting his head on something hard that must have been one of the operating consoles.

His vision turned red and he couldn't breathe. Wesker tried to put a hand over the wound - his stomach hurt so bad - but his hand jerked back because it went _inside_, because he'd felt a slimey organ that gave way beneath his fingers and – _it should close_ – he coughed up something warm, which ran down the corners of his mouth and neck and there were those terrible spasms and it was so hard to keep all those sliding things inside his body –

- and then it was over, really over, because Wesker just wanted the pain to go away, at whatever cost.

* * *

**So Wesker's thoughts have gone from confused to accusing to entirely sloppy in the end, but I guess being impaled by a Tyrant gets more to you than Capcom wanted us to believe (sorry, but Wesker's resurrection in UC was just... tasteless. He was completely robotlike after he awoke again O.o)**

**There's two more chapters of Bene Merenti to be read. Find out if Wesker survived (yes, so totally surprising!), some of the virus' effects and how he manages to get out of the Mansion in Chapter XII!**


	12. Chapter XII

Chapter XII

People said that when you died, you saw your entire life run down in front of your eyes. The only thing Wesker saw was cold blackness, and an unbearable throbbing that tried to rob him of this state of indifference, where pain and worries held no relevant powers.

When his senses returned to him, Wesker's thoughts were a mess of unintellegible parts somehow thrown together. Something was in his throat and he was forced to cough, a viscous liquid running out the corners of his mouth and down his face, but he was too drowsy to comprehend its true meaning.

His hand instinctively moved to the pulsating spot on his stomach, which, even though his entire body hurt as if he had been set on fire alive, managed to stand out in the intensity of agony. He pulled the hand back shocked, when it touched something wet and sticky and tried to raise his head, blinking away the blackness to get a better look on what had happened.

And then it suddenly came back to him, he remembered – not his entire life, but rather the last moments of it – and Wesker shot up into a sitting position, gritting his teeth against the flames that jerked through his body, and placed the hand back on the wound, pressing.

It didn't go through, even though it should, because – _I survived_ – the Tyrant had impaled him, had effectively made a mixed salad of all his organs and he was still breathing, spitting blood, but breathing.

Wesker tried to stand up, getting a hold of the broken machinery behind him for balance, but his legs weren't all that convinced that they should still function. He came to a stand eventually, bent over, blood trickling out of his mouth and nose and Wesker wondered where all of it came from.

He was regaining control of his thoughts again, slowly putting them back into order, but he couldn't possibly still be alive, because an accute bloodloss of one litre was enough to kill a human for good and the Tyrant's claw had pierced right through him – _impossible to have failed spinal column, should have snapped it in two_ – and yet he was standing on his own two feet, the pain numbing and shock taking over, giving his body a chance to get into safety before draining him of all the powers he shouldn't even have anymore.

He stumbled over to the operating console, his mind being occupied by the only thought that had managed to take form yet - to get out of here - and grabbed the memory stick that was plugged into the computer and had hopefully captured the fight of Tyrant versus Chris Refield.

Blood-smeared hands moved towards the keyboard and the gray plastic turned crimson as he initiated the self destruct system. It was set to annihilate the entire complex in approximately seven minutes, leaving him enough time to get out.

A female voice calmly informed him that all personnel should evacuate immediately.

Wesker turned around, already feeling a little safer on his feet – when his eyes locked on the chaos in front of him. The test tubes were broken, computers destroyed beyond imagination, vials, scalpels and all sorts of other medical objects were randomly sprawled across the floor.

_- the samples_ -

They were lost, and he didn't have enough time to check through this mess before the building would be destroyed.

Then he noticed it, all of a sudden. There was no trace of Chris Redfield, no Tyrant. Not even the corpse of Rebecca Chambers was in the room, making Wesker wonder what had happened during his blackout.

The mechanic voice noted that only six and a half minutes were left until detonation.

_-no time –_

He stepped forward, fumbling for the Magnum in his leg holster – the pistol was gone, probably having been jerked free from his hand during the Tyrant's attack – when he stepped on something hard that made a loud cracking noice under the force of his boot.

Wesker looked down, thinking that it might only a shard of glass or plastic, but when he retreived his foot from the object he recognized the remains of his sunglasses. He couldn't remember when they had fallen off; the entire scenario was no more than a vague blur in his mind.

_- no time, get out -_

He began walking, somehow finding the strength to put one leg in front of the other, barely swaying anymore as he made his way through the automatic doors that strangely still functioned.

In the hallway that led to the elevator, his feet refused to obey him anymore. He guessed it was because his mind stopped working for a second, because his heart stopped beating at the sight before him. There was a great hole in the massive concrete ceiling, at least six feet in diameter –

_- big enough to fit a Tyrant through -_

and Wesker was running, throwing the mesh wire gate closed behind him and pushing the up button of the elevator as the impassive voice told him he had six minutes left before turning into ash.

The ride in the elevator was incredibly long, but Wesker didn't dare to look down again, couldn't imagine what wound he'd find if he did so, and if he could handle the sight of it. He took shallow breaths and put a hand to the side of his head that pulsated as if it tried to press his brain out through his ears.

It came back bloody, but Wesker couldn't say whether it was bloodier than before. It seemed that his entire body was clad in the crimson liquid and strangely, he still stood. He couldn't explain it, didn't even want to. He had to get out, that was the most important thing.

The elevator reached the third sublevel and Wesker stepped into the hallway, vagually aware that he'd entered one of the Chimeras' territories.

There was no time to waste though, the female voice of the self destruct system agreed with him, so Wesker started to jog, keeping his weapon up just in case. Perhaps, if he was quick enough,it wouldn't hear him.

And the Tyrant? The thought occupied his mind, as much as he tried to push it away. Where was it? Where was Chris? He should have at least seen parts of the Alpha team member down in the Gamma Lab, yet there had been no trace.

Had he survived? Was he fighting the Tyrant still, or was the monster running around freely, hunting down more prey and searching for Wesker? And what about the Chambers girl? He'd shot her himself, and even if she hadn't died right away, how could she have escaped the BOW's death bringing claws.

He stopped in his tracks, suddenly…a distant _clinkclank._

It was on him in a split second, having jumped down from the ventilation shaft above him. There was no time to turn and point the weapon at it, because one of its many legs knocked the Magnum out of his slippery hand. The Chimera screeched in triumph, holding on to his shoulders, preparing to stick a claw in his brain and suck out its contents like in a bad horror movie.

In retrospect, he couldn't say what he'd done exactly, but the next moment the Chimera impacted hard with the wall on the other side, too many bones broken to be able to stand up again. A last desperate whimper left its lips, before it stopped moving.

It gave Wesker an incredible boost of adrenaline, and he was practically already running again as he bent down to swoop up the weapon on his way, his legs carrying him faster than they should be able to.

He dashed through the corridors, hearing footsteps and inhuman sounds, but he never turned around to check, because the female voice echoing in the halls was convinced that there was no time for such things.

At one point he thought he heard the rotating blades of a helicopter, but that was impossible, because he didn't think Ada had had the means or time to organize a chopper at 3am in the morning, not to mention that the sound couldn't be heard through a multitude of thick concrete walls.

He was already up on the second level, when the faint smell of rotting flesh reached his nose. At first Wesker thought he might finally have awoken from his delirium and the smell belonged to no other but himself, but three corridors ahead were the shambling figures of Dr. Foster and his team, who'd worked to improve the Chimeras' stamina and strength.

The doctor and his two assistants turned his way when they heard his steps, but Wesker simply ran past them and strangely, none of the three carriers started to pursue him in their staggering fashion. They simply stood where he'd left them, peering into the empty hallway with similar empty eyes.

He didn't have time to think about their behaviour and put the matter aside with the explanation that their nervous system had degenerated to the point that an impulse took an eternity to go from eye to brain and be transmitted to the appropriate muscles afterwards.

To his surprise he wasn't out of breath by the time he reached the first sublevel and was astonished of the hidden powers his body had stored for emergency situations like this. His arms were pumping for more speed, the surroundings literally flying past him in a haze.

Then Wesker stopped, so abruptly that he thought he'd topple over and a Hunter clawed at the air that could have been him, roaring in anguish as it realized that it missed its initial target. He didn't have time to wonder about his luck.

The BOW had already turned towards him - probably having trailed the scent of blood – its small reptilian eyes gleaming with hate, with _want_, before it reached back and swiped a mutated paw at Wesker.

But he aimed the Magnum between its eyes even quicker, and the blast of the weapon hauled the heavy body backwards, out of reach. He didn't wait to see whether it got up again; the female voice calmy informed him that only three minutes were left until detonation.

When he reached the parking lot, merely seconds later it seemed, the emergency lights flashed red, and the mechanical voice kept advising all personnel to evacuate immediately. At the farther end stood a car, a black SUV, Umbrella custom-made. Its lights were on and even from this distance Wesker could hear the rythmical growl of the engine.

He darted towards the vehicle, determined to follow the voice's suggestion and get away from the Spencer Estate in the two and a half minutes that remained.

* * *

**A bit of a shorter chapter, but lots of hints at the effect's of Wesker's virus.**

**The first, of course, healing powers, to which I want to add something: I wrote that he spat/vomited blood aswell as it flowing out of his nose. The virus might have healed - or being in the process of such - his initial wounds, however there still must be blood left where it shouldn't belong to. The injury was immense, there's no possible way that the blood has been resorbed so quickly.**

**Second instance of virus, the Chimera. Poor Wesker doesn't realize with what force he smashed the BOW against the wall yet, though. The zombies didn't attack him either, which gives a hint on some of the serum's ingredients, perhaps. He also managed to successfully evade the Hunter's attack and shoot it before it could charge again and he put up an incredible speed with running through the facility.**

**I want to apologize to all those who expected a Lisa-showdown. There simply hasn't been anymore time for that, but I'll make it up with a future story focused on her's and Wesker's 'relationship'.**

**One more chapter to go. Wanna leave some feedback until then?**


	13. Chapter XIII

Chapter XIII

Ada Wong decided that the emotionless robotic voice, that was periodically advising employees to leave the facility as long as they still could, was the most annoying part of this mission.

She didn't mind the waiting, which, according to some people, was always unbearable. The waiting was okay. She'd tap her fingers in some random rhythm against the steering wheel of the SUV and check the rearview mirror every few seconds for signs of Wesker… or something else.

So far, she hadn't seen any of the infected, if you didn't count that one Doberman whose life she'd ended by driving it over. Ada guessed that the employees, who'd been so unlucky to have the shift when the virus leaked, were probably lurking in the labs' corridors. From outside the Spencer Estate showed no signs of the little 'mishap' whatsoever, not considering the blaring sirens that had set off a few minutes ago.

If she hadn't been informed about the current circumstances, Ada doubted that she would have noticed the subtle changes. Some broken windows in the Mansion, lights that were out even though they shouldn't, an eerie athmosphere of lifelessness in the air, though she probably only imagined the latter.

She'd gotten the first call a rough thirty hours ago, where Wesker had explained the initial leak to her and the resulting effects it had on their plans. Two of the Raccoon facilities had somehow suffered from a viral outbreak; for reasons unknown until then. Wesker had briefly elaborated the nature of the virus, how it might benefit them, and assured her that he was taking care of Umbrella's Training Facility.

There had been a pause of approximately twenty-six hours in which Ada had contemplated what to do, if the denial to keep her up to date on Wesker's end meant that she had to continue solo from now on, but the surprising call nearly two hours ago had had Ada throw away all the unfinished plans.

It wasn't hard to piece the events together, if one had a little background information. Which Ada had been lucky to be able and obtain. John Howe, an Umbrella scientist working in the third plant of the Raccoon branch had been more than happy to tell her everything she wanted to know.

Initially, John Howe had been her own fallback option, should Wesker's plans turn out to be unsuccessful. She had built up a relationship with the researcher in early fall, and John liked to talk about his work a lot. Ada was always a good listener and he enjoyed opening up to her.

That's how she had learned of the Training Facility's explosion, though the exact reason was unknown to the lower ranked employees. Wesker had been head researcher at the Arklay Lab, aswell as commanding officer of STARS; Umbrella had probably tasked him with taking care of the matter, and the man had impromptu incorporated this new twist into his plans.

On the phone – during their first talk – he had told her that the moment had come and that they needed to grip this opportunity, if they ever wanted to take the cruitial step. He had instructed her to keep ready for all possible scenarios.

Well, here she was, prepared to take down whatever would come at her. Ada had managed to collect a considerable amount of weapons in the short time. Her handgun lay at her side, and there was enough ammo in the SUV to deal with whatever Umbrella had cooked up in their secret lab. She had everything ranging from first aid kits to granades. She would have even brought a rocket launcher, but at 3am in the morning that kind of calibre was hard to come by in the rather peaceful Raccoon City.

Ada tapped her fingers on the wheel with growing uneasiness, fully aware that in the three-something minutes remaining there could still happen a lot. Or not. Wesker could have just aswell died right after he'd placed the call to her. Ada decided that once the countdown reached two minutes and there was still no sign of the STARS commander, she'd mourn over his loss by trying to evade suffering the same fate.

Wesker's death would even bring some positive effects with it. Ever since he'd approached her about her leave from Umbrella, things had slipped out of Ada's hand and she didn't like that. He had somehow learned about her inclinations to offer her services to another company. She held no personal grudges against Umbrella directly; they paid well, the missions were relatively easy and as long as you kept it clean and quiet, all was well. For some time now though, Ada had felt the pressure Umbrella was putting on her. They were drawing her deeper into the net, making it almost impossible to break free again. Ada liked to think of herself as a woman, who was able to do what she liked, when she liked it. She didn't want that to change.

And then Wesker had come up to her and blatantly told her that he was going to lose a word or two about her intentions, if she wasn't willing to cooperate. At first she had denied, right away, but the man had soon made it clear that he had relations far up in White Umbrella, aswell as to people Ada didn't even want to meet.

She'd agreed then, and surprisingly Wesker didn't ask more of her than to keep her mouth shut for most of the time, or dig up some information about this company or that person. The tasks were easy, and she was sure he could have done it himself if he wanted to. But he recompensated her for her troubles and Ada decided to play along for a while.

Only later had she learned that he wanted to leave Umbrella too, but for a man in his position that was probably harder than for her. It was commonly known that the pharmaceutical enterprise made absolutely sure none of their work reached the surface or any rivaling company, even if it meant eliminating the possible dangers absolutely.

He had been waiting for the right moment – dragged her along – and Ada hoped that their unspoken contract would finally end in the next few minutes – whatever way, she didn't really care.

The alarm roared even louder, as only two and a half minutes were left until detonation.

And then he came.

At first, she only saw his figure through the rearview mirror, hurrying towards the started SUV. When he came nearer, she could detect blood on his uniform and wondered whether he had been shot, or bitten, or if it was someone else's blood altogether. He didn't seem to waver in his stride, so whatever it was, it couldn't be grave.

When he got into the car, in the backseat, and slammed the door shut she froze, because he couldn't possibly be alive anymore.

"Drive!" he commanded, looking sternly into the rearview mirror, where their eyes met. Their eyes. He didn't wear his trademark shades, and Ada wondered whether it was the first time she had seen his real eyes. She certainly didn't remember that they were blue…azure like the tranquility of sunrise itself, a relation that sprouted with wrongness.

"Ada!" he urged, and his voice sounded dangerous.

She hit the gas, the SUV picking up speed, but while holding onto the steering wheel Ada fumbled for her weapon beside her, finally getting a grip on it and held it up, evident for him to see.

"You've been bitten," she said, one eye never leaving the mirror. Bitten was an understatement; he looked as if something had eaten him as a whole and thrown him right up again. There was blood trickling from his nose and mouth, and the side of his head was of matching color. Part of his hair was covered in the now dried substance, and the better part of his uniform had turned dark from being soaked.

And there was the gaping hole of fabric Ada could see from her position, but she couldn't judge the austerity of the wound, because it was covered in blood, clotting blood, but blood nonetheless, and Wesker's hand was laid on it. Ada held the weapon in position, ready to pull the trigger and end their business partnership in another way than he might want.

"I'm not, concentrate on the road," he stated, his voice not more but a low hiss and Ada wondered whether she'd ever witnessed Albert Wesker having to keep his temper in check like that.

She didn't pull down the weapon immediately, "Have you been shot?"

He didn't get the time to respond, because behind them the Spencer Mansion exploded, the blast of the nuke nearly sending the SUV flying, but Ada managed to get control over the vehicle again before it was too late. She had to drop her gun in order to grip the wheel with both hands though, cursing her incapability at the same moment. If Wesker suddenly felt the urge to take a bite out of her now she had no means to defend herself from ending up as his breakfast.

Wesker was watching the debris through the rear window, leaving himself a considerable amount of time before finally responding, "Among others, yes."

Ada took her foot off the acceleration, slowing the car down to a more controllable speed now that the immanent danger was gone. The man on the backseat was still regarding the remains of the Mansion, and Ada used the time to scrutinize him again through the rearview mirror.

It was his blood, at least parts of it. She couldn't say where he'd been shot, but he had clearly hit his head against something hard. The now dark hair concealed the exact injury, and Ada could get only glimpses. She had to avoid driving into a tree after all.

The wound on his torso though, she could find no explanation for it. It could impossibly be the shot he'd mentioned, unless someone had gotten him with a rocket launcher or another weapon of that calibre and Ada doubted he would still have been able to move that quickly – to run – if mortally wounded.

Still, as she drove into the breaking day she couldn't keep herself from asking, "What happened in there?"

He turned around then, looked at her as he had looked so many times. Cold, calculating, anticipating. When their eyes met in the mirror again, she couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something wrong about them, even though the reason for the strange glow they held for a second was probably only the rising sun reflecting in them, dipping the natural azure into the dark crimson of a new day.

When he talked, his voice was calm again, void of all the anger from before.

"I died," he said, and somehow Ada knew he wasn't joking.

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Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.  
- T.S. Elliot

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THE BEGINNING

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**The quote doesn't need explaining, I think.**

**I hope you liked the bit of background info I gave on Ada and Wesker's relationship. In RE Archives it says that Ada doublecrossed Umbrella alongside Wesker, so I had the two working 'together' (kind of).**

**I included some hints about the virus' effects in the chapter, such as his eyes and a bit of heightened aggressivity when he talked with Ada. Well, in the future he must learn to keep his temper in check, I guess.**

**A huge thank you to all the people who took the time and gave feedback on my story! You made my days, guys, and were the driving force that kept me writing! Many of you have fabulous stories of their own, so for everyone who enjoys a good read: Check out their profiles and their works, I tell you it's worth it! **

A little sneak peak:

**ab esse ad posse**  
_from being to knowing_ (lit. from being to being able)  
After the Mansion Incident Wesker seeks Birkin's help to understand the nature of the virus and its effects on the host.

**IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have any questions about the virus, in whatever way, write a review, PM or email (in profile) and I will have Dr. Birkin cover and explain uncertainties (probably many) in the next story!**

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And with that Chaed says: See you soon!

Oh! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!


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